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THE 


ENGLISH    REFORMATION: 


HOW  IT  CAME  ABOUT,  AND    WHY 
WE  SHOULD    UPHOLD  IT. 


BY 

CUNNINGHAM   GEIKIE,   D.  D., 

AUTHOR    OF     "the    LIFE    AND     WOBDS    OF    CHB18T,"     ETC. 


"  Be  of  good  comfort,  Master  Ridley,  and  play  the  man.  We  shall  this 
day  light  such  a  candle,  by  God's  grace,  in  England,  as  I  trust  shall  never 
be  put  out." 

Latvner^  at  t/ie  Stake, 


NEW  YORK : 
D.    APPLETON     AND     COMPANY, 

S49    AND    551    BROADWAY. 

1879. 


TO   THE 

ARCHBISHOPS    AND    BISHOPS    OF    ENGLAND, 

THE 

APPOINTED  GUARDIANS 

OF 

"THE    PROTESTANT    REFORMED    RELIGION,"' 
"ESTABLISHED  BY  LAW;"' 

TO  WHOM  THE  COUNTRY  LOOKS  WITH  LOYAL  TRUST, 

SCI^is  ^ooh  is  Inscribed, 

WITH  THE  GREATEST  RESPECT  ; 

IN  THE   HOPE  THAT   IT  MAY   AID  THEM,  HOWEVER  HUMBLY, 

IN  THE  FULFILMENT  OF  THEIR  MAGNIFICENT  COMxMISSION. 


>  The  words  of  the  Coronation  Oath. 


2224072 


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IB 

PREFACE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


It  is  one  of  the  most  painful  duties  for  a  member  of 
any  branch  of  the  Christian  Church  to  have  to  blame  or 
condemn  any  other  section,  even  where  there  is  the 
greatest  reason  for  doing  so.  Were  it  possible  it  would 
be  unspeakably  more  congenial  only  to  approve. 

But  there  are  cases  in  which  fidelity  to  the  truth 
demands  frank  and  candid  exposure  of  the  hurtful  prin- 
ciples, moral,  religious,  or  political,  which  men  have 
grafted  on  Christianity — principles  which  so  counteract 
the  spirit  of  our  religion  as  in  effect  to  neutralise  it,  if 
they  do  not  even  make  it  the  occasion  of  actual  evil  to 
the  individual,  the  family,  or  the  State. 

Such  cases  have  risen  in  every  age,  for  there  is  no- 
thing corrupt  or  doubtful  in  human  nature  that  does 
not  take  advantage  of  the  aid  which  religion  gives  for  its 
spread.  The  grossest  immorality,  the  wildest  fanaticism, 
the  most  remorseless  tyranny,  have  by  turns  made  Chris- 
tianity the  vehicle  for  their  advancement,  as  in  other 
ages  they  have  allied  themselves  with  other  faiths. 

At  this  day  the  most  dangerous  perversion  of  our 
religion  is  that  known  as  sacerdotalism,  or  the  grafting 
of  priestly  pretensions  on  the  simple  spiritual  teaching 
of  the  New  Testament.     Older  than  history,  it  soon  dis- 


vi  Preface  to  the  American  Edition. 

covered  a  fresh  field  even  in  the  system  which  had  the 
abohtion  of  all  human  priesthoods  for  one  of  its  great 
aims.  As  Christianity  established  itself  the  virus  of  this 
fatal  error,  transferred  from  heathen  and  Jewish  sources, 
tainted  it  even  more  deeply,  till,  before  the  Reformation, 
it  had  become  corrupted  almost  beyond  recognition. 
Our  forefathers,  at  last,  thank  God,  by  the  great  Protes- 
tant secession  restored  primitive  simplicity  and  purity, 
in  a  measure,  to  part  of  the  Church,  and  proclaimed 
anew  the  great  principles  of  spiritual  liberty  with  such 
force  that  there  is  no  longer  a  fear  of  their  ever  being 
again  wholly  eclipsed. 

Still,  error  dies  hard,  and  in  this  case  there  is  much 
to  give  it  vitality.  The  prescription  of  venerable  age, 
the  influence  of  superstitious  fear,  the  natural  inclination 
of  many  to  dependence  on  others,  the  power  of  hardy 
assertion,  the  influence  of  wide  organisation,  and  the 
ambition  of  a  vast  clerical  order,  combine  to  perpetu- 
ate it. 

Were  sacerdotalism  a  mere  speculative  belief,  few 
would  think  of  troubling  themselves  about  it.  The 
trouble  is,  that  it  is  a  mere  worldly  growth  on  religion 
by  which  priest  castes  in  all  ages  have  sought  to  bring 
mankind  to  its  feet.  It  is  common  to  every  creed,  and 
is  as  old  as  human  ambition.  It  seeks,  through  men's 
spiritual  fears,  to  erect  in  Christianity  an  ecclesiastical 
despotism  before  which  all  that  is  dearest  to  us  in  mod- 
ern liberty  shall  be  remorselessly  crushed.  Beginning 
with  the  individual,  it  aims  at  making  him  the  trembling 
slave  of  "  the  Church  " — that  is,  of  the  individual  priest ; 
invading  social  life,  it  thrusts  itself  into  the  sanctity  of 
the  family,  and  breaks  it  up  into  units,  each  of  whom  is 


Preface  to  the  American  Edition.  vii 

required  to  betray  the  other  to  its  confessor ;  assaihng 
even  our  poHtical  life,  it  plots  incessantly  to  gain  such 
an  ascendancy  as  shall  enable  it  to  restrict  our  most 
cherished  liberties  where  it  cannot  destroy  them. 

Thus  it  is  not  as  a  form  of  religious  belief  that  Pro- 
testants resolutely  oppose  Romanism,  and  its  counterfeit 
in  the  Episcopal  Communion,  but  as  an  ecclesiastical 
conspiracy  to  raise  the  priest  to  power,  at  once  over  our 
souls,  our  households,  and  our  country. 

That  this  is  the  simple  fact  is  attested  by  all  history. 
The  witness  of  past  ages  in  England  will  be  found  in  the 
following  pages  :  that  of  the  present  surrounds  us.  The 
Syllabus  issued  under  the  late  Pope  is  the  summary  of 
Romish  pretensions  as  they  are  urged  over  the  world  by 
the  Romish  priesthood.  It  is  not  only  authentic  and 
authoritative:  it  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  Romish 
Church,  which  every  effort  must  be  made  to  establish  in 
all  states  and  kingdoms.  A  few  of  its  utterances  may 
well  suffice  to  rouse  us  to  watchfulness. 

To  enslave  the  individual  soul  men  are  told  that  it  is 
a  damnable  heresy  to  believe  that  "  there  is  hope  of 
eternal  salvation  for  those  who  do  not  belong  to  the  true 
Church  ;  "  that  education  should  be  wholly  under  the 
direction  of  the  priest,  and  that  implicit  obedience  to  the 
Church  is  the  one  condition  of  receiving  favour  in  the 
world  to  come.  To  enslave  the  State,  it  is  laid  down 
that  "  it  is  not  allowable  to  oppose  and  revolt  against 
legitimate  princes ;  "  such,  for  example,  as  Bomba,  or 
James  II.,  or  George  III.  in  his  relations  to  the  Ameri- 
can colonies.  Still  more,  the  thought  that  "  the  Pope 
can  and  ought  to  become  reconciled  to  progress,  liberal- 
ism, and  modern  civilisation,"    is  held  up  to  peculiar 


viii  Preface  to  the  American  Edition. 

scorn.  It  is  claimed  for  the  Church,  that  is,  the  priest, 
that  he  ought  to  be  supreme  in  the  State ;  that  he  ought 
not  to  be  tried  before  any  civil  tribunal ;  that  the  power 
of  the  State  ought  to  be  at  his  command ;  and  that,  while 
the  Church  has  a  divine  right  to  interfere  with  the  State 
at  every  turn,  the  State  must  not,  even  remotely,  inter- 
fere with  the  assumptions,  ambitions,  or  tyranny  of  the 
Church. 

These  principles,  incessantly  acted  on  by  the  Romish 
priests,  have  produced  their  natural  result  over  all  Chris- 
tendom, In  France  they  led  to  the  war  of  1870,  which 
was  only  a  clerical  attempt  to  crush  Protestantism  in  Ger- 
many, and  thus  rivet  the  chains  of  priestcraft  on  France 
itself  In  Italy,  they  show  their  presence  by  continual 
efforts  to  break  up  the  Italian  kingdom  and  restore  the 
despots  of  former  times,  the  popes  among  them.  In 
Germany,  they  have  led  to  a  political  crisis  which  has 
lasted  for  nearly  eight  years ;  the  Church  demanding 
supremacy  in  the  Empire,  and  the  State  enforcing  its 
due  subordination.  In  Belgium,  the  struggle  to  crush 
liberty  has  been  made,  as  it  is  now  being  made  in  the 
United  States  and  in  British  America,  by  making  use 
for  the  time  of  the  very  freedom  they  seek  to  destroy 
when  it  has  served  their  end.  Everywhere  the  Romish 
Church  and  the  free  nations  of  the  world  are  face  to  face 
as  deadly  enemies. 

In  America  this  great  struggle  is  being  fought  out 
under  circumstances  peculiarly  worth  attention.  In  the 
British  Provinces,  as  in  the  United  States,  there  is  the 
most  perfect  political  liberty,  though  in  the  States  the 
simplicity  of  republican  forms  makes  the  fact  even  more 
striking.     The  only  way  of  attacking  this  freedom,  so 


Preface  to  the  American  Edition.  ix 

hateful  to  the  Romish  Church,  is  by  using  the  privileges 
it  confers  to  undermine  and  finally  overthrow  it.  That 
the  conspiracy  will  fail  of  anything  like  complete  success 
is  certain,  but  no  one  can  tell  how  far  it  may  push  its 
objects  at  the  expense  of  the  nation.  Politicians  are 
proverbially  unscrupulous  where  votes  can  be  had  in 
return  for  concessions.  The  vast  national  migrations 
which  have  played  so  great  a  part  in  the  religious  and 
political  history  of  the  past  have  recommenced  on  a 
mightier  scale  than  ever  before.  The  civilisation  of  the 
Old  World  was  overwhelmed  by  the  irruption  of  the  bar- 
barians :  the  liberties  of  the  New  World  are  imperilled  by 
the  immigration  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Irish.  For  fully 
a  generation  that  people,  leaving  a  country  where  nothing 
could  raise  them  to  the  level  of  the  sister  island,  have 
swarmed  over  the  face  of  America,  bearing  with  them 
the  same  abject  slavery  to  the  priest  which  had  made 
their  elevation  impossible  in  their  own  land.  Trusted  in 
both  Canada  and  the  States  with  the  franchise,  they 
have  held  it,  as  a  rule,  either  for  the  priest  or  the  highest 
bidder,  or  for  both.  The  Romish  Archbishop  of  an 
American  or  Canadian  diocese  is  the  one  will  in  his 
communion.  Wordsworth  speaks  of  forty  cattle  feeding 
like  one :  America,  like  Ireland,  would  have  shown  him 
ten  thousand  times  forty  Irish  Romanists  voting  with 
the  same  unintelligent  unanimity. 

The  results  are  already  momentous.  Speaking  of 
Canada,  a  leading  statesman  of  the  Dominion  tells  us  in 
a  "  Protest "  just  published,  that  the  Romish  Church 
now  extends  its  demands — "  i.  To  the  general  assertion 
of  the  superiority  of  ecclesiastical  over  civil  authority. 
2.  To  positive  interference  with  both  voters  and  candi- 


X  Preface  to  the  American  Edition. 

dates  in  elections.  3.  To  the  exercise  of  proscription 
against  the  press.  4.  To  the  condemnation  of  free- 
dom of  speech ;  and,  5.  To  the  extraordinary  proposition 
that  the  Divine  assistance  claimed  to  be  given  to  the 
Pope  alone,  when  speaking  ex  cathedra  on  '  faith  and 
morals,  '  descends  with  undiminished  force  to  the  bishops, 
priests,  and  cures''  He  urges  that  the  claims  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  constitute  "  a  legitimate  cause  for  ap- 
prehension. .  .  .  Already,"  says  he,  "  free  thought  and 
free  speech  have  been  anathematised  in  the  case  of  the 
Institut  Canadien.  The  press  has  been  placed  under 
ecclesiastical  ban.  The  clergy  have  succeeded  in  draw- 
ing under  their  own  control  the  expenditure  of  most  of 
the  public  money  voted  for  charities,  reformatories,  asy- 
lums, and  for  colonisation,  and  have  obtained  the  entire 
management  of  education,  as  regards  Roman  Catholics. 
Power  is  now  given  to  the  Roman  Catholic  bishops  to 
divide  the  whole  Province  into  ecclesiastical  parishes. 
Legislation  has  been  obtained  this  year,  giving  full  con- 
trol of  burials  to  the  clergy.  And  probably,  for  the  first 
time  within  any  British  Province,  the  authority  of  a  for- 
eign potentate  is  cited  as  necessary  for  the  due  execution 
of  the  law,  while  the  guarantees  obtained  on  behalf  of 
the  Protestant  minority  in  Lower  Canada,  at  Confedera- 
tion, have  been  effectively  weakened." 

Nor  is  it  better  in  the  United  States.  Apart  alto- 
gether from  questions  of  party  politics,  of  which  I  know 
nothing,  I  was  struck  by  the  revelations  made  at  the 
last  Presidential  election.  The  Romish  journals  every- 
where were  jubilant  over  the  influence  exercised  by  the 
Romish  party  in  controlling  it.  The  Tablet  stated  : 
"  Whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  decision,  victory,  as  far 


Preface  to  the  American  Edition.  xi 

as  the  popular  vote  goes,  is  a  result  to  which  the  Irish 
vote  has  largely  contributed ;  "  and  the  Weekly  Regis- 
ter remarked :  "  It  is  said  that  the  election  of  the  new 
President  was  decided  by  the  majority  of  New  York.  It 
may  be  affirmed,  therefore,  tliat  the  Irish  turned  the 
balance  of  the  scale  and  decided  the  day.  We  cannot 
but  look  upon  this  as  a  good  omen."  The  following  ex- 
tract from  Harper's  Weekly  of  the  time  will  explain  their 
reasons  for  congratulation.     It  states  : 

"  The  real  victory  of  the  Papal  faction  has  been  almost 
wholly  in  the  larger  Eastern  cities,  and  chiefly  in  New  York. 
The  unhappy  condition  of  the  metropolis,  its  intolerable 
government,  its  rising  and  almost  ruinous  taxation,  its  enor- 
mous debt,  the  swarms  of  Papal  priests  and  their  followers 
who  live  on  its  revenues,  the  vast  outlay  for  Roman  Catholic 
seminaries,  the  financial  ruin  that  seems  possibly  to  await  it 
in  the  future,  are  strange  features  in  our  national  life  that 
could  never  have  been  looked  for ;  yet  it  is  this  unlucky  city 
that,  under  its  Ultramontane  tyranny,  has  nearly  given  a  com- 
plete victory  to  the  Papal  faction  in  the  nation.  For  twenty 
years  New  York  has  been  the  victim  of  Roman  Catholic 
tyranny,  and  each  succeeding  lustrum  has  seen  its  resources 
squandered  with  increasing  profligacy,  and  new  throngs  of 
worthless  adventurers  pressed  into  its  poHtical  ofiices,  or 
maintained  by  its  plunder.  Its  government  is  notoriously 
bad  ;  its  death-rate  is  higher  than  that  of  any  other  city ;  its 
officials  are  often  disreputable ;  its  taxation  rises  almost  to 
the  pitch  of  confiscation ;  its  revenues  are  wasted  upon  Ro- 
man Catholic  seminaries,  protectories,  foundling  asylums  ; 
the  foreign  Church  despoils  it  in  a  way  that  in  any  European 
city  would  produce  a  revolution  or  a  general  confiscation  of 
the  Papal  gains.  But  the  most  important  lesson  of  the  elec- 
tion of  1876  is  the  clear  light  it  throws  upon  the  plans  of  the 
Papal  faction.     There  can  be  no  longer  any  doubt  that  the 


xii  Preface  to  the  American  Edition. 

Roman  Church  is  a  most  successful  and  adroit  political 
manager ;  that  for  a  moment  it  seemed  to  hold  in  its  hands 
the  destiny  of  freedom,  and  that  in  all  future  elections  it 
will  come  forward  openly  to  contest  the  control  of  the  Re- 
public. The  clerical  party  is  as  plainly  defined  among  us 
as  in  France,  Belgium,  or  Italy,  Mexico  or  Brazil.  It  means 
everywhere  the  same  thing,  the  destmction  of  popular  institu- 
tions. The  clerical  Ultramontanes  already  hold  New  York 
and  New  Haven,  Cincinnati  and  Savannah,  St.  Louis  and 
New  Orleans.  By  force  or  fraud  they  still  hope  to  control  the 
Union:' 

Such  are  the  tactics  of  Rome  in  free  America ;  such 
is  the  danger  to  which  it  exposes  free  institutions  even 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

To  listen  to  its  advocates,  however,  one  would  fancy 
it  engrossed  with  the  spiritual  interests  of  mankind. 
With  unabashed  front  it  speaks  of  its  being  "  pure  and 
perfect ;  "  of  its  having  been  the  witness  for  God  on 
earth  through  eighteen  centuries  :  of  its  being  the  Bride 
of  Christ,  the  light  of  the  world,  and  the  one  ark  des- 
tined to  float  safely  over  the  final  ruin  of  the  world. 

How  far  it  has  a  right  to  these  self-laudations  the 
following  pages  in  some  measure  show.  They  will  help 
readers  to  understand  how  the  Romish  Church,  like 
Danton,  has  had  for  its  unchanging  policy — "  L'audace, 
I'audace,  toujours  l'audace ;  "  and  how  utterly  its  cor- 
porate life  and  pretensions  have  belied  its  claims. 

Protestantism  is  as  constantly  calumniated  by  the 
mouthpieces  of  Rome  as  priestly  despotism  is  extolled. 
This  book,  I  trust,  will  vindicate  religious  freedom  from 
such  slanders,  and  endear  to  many  the  system  which  has 
made  it  ours. 


Prefa€e  to  the  American  Edition.  xiii 

Unfortunately,  it  is  not  Rome  alone  from  which  Pro- 
testantism, as  the  embodiment  of  liberty,  has  to  guard. 
The  Episcopal  Communion,  smitten  for  the  time  by  an 
epidemic  of  priestism,  has  latterly  seen  numbers  of  its 
clergy  betraying  its  principles  and  seeking  the  favour  of 
that  Church  against  whose  errors  their  own  is  a  standing 
protest.  This  melancholy  spectacle  has  been  witnessed 
both  in  England  and  America,  and  demands  the  vigour- 
ous  watchfulness  of  all  to  whom  spiritual  liberty  is  sacred. 

There  may  be  no  fear  of  "  Ritualism,"  as  this  phe- 
nomenon is  called,  assaihng  political  liberty  as  Roman- 
ism does,  but  it  is  as  deadly  as  its  prototype,  in  its  rela- 
tions to  individual  freedom  and  intelligence.  Its  funda- 
mental principle  is  the  intrusion  of  the  priest  between 
the  soul  and  God,  and  the  insistance  on  his  official  acts 
as  necessary  to  salvation.  But,  wherever  an  order  is 
permitted  to  assume  supernatural  claims,  it  prostrates  at 
its  feet  all  who  accept  them.  We  dare  not  oppose  one 
who  can  open  or  shut  the  gates  of  heaven — can  bind  or 
loose  the  load  of  our  sins. 

Such  a  conception  of  religion  is  the  very  antithesis 
of  Protestantism.  The  one  has  no  priests  but  Christ ; 
the  other  sees  his  authority  delegated  to  a  caste  of 
Christian  Brahmins :  the  one  trusts  for  salvation  to  faith 
in  its  Lord,  proved  by  a  holy  life ;  the  other  proclaims 
that  salvation  is  secured  by  the  sacraments  duly  minis- 
tered by  a  rightly  consecrated  priest. 

On  whom  and  on  what  lies  the  blame  of  this  impor- 
tation of  heathenism  into  Christianity  ?  All  priestly 
castes  have  in  every  age  claimed  a  divine  descent,  and 
Ritualism  follows  the  example.  Borrowing  the  inven- 
tion of  Rome,  it  claims  for  its  clergy  a  perpetuation  of 


xiv  Preface  to  the  American  Edition. 

some  of  the  miraculous  gifts  conferred  on  the  Apostles 
by  the  incarnate  Saviour.  Ineffable  powers  are  supposed 
to  have  passed  through  the  haftds  of  innumerable  gene- 
rations of  bishops  or  overseers  of  ecclesiastical  districts — 
often  men  of  unworthy  lives,  often  merely  mythical  per- 
sons— to  those  on  whom  their  hands  were  laid.  That 
the  Son  of  God  could  symbolically  attest  His  endowment 
of  His  aposdes  with  special  gifts,  by  laying  His  hands  on 
them,  is  in  lofty  harmony  with  His  divine  character  and 
mode  of  action ;  and  that  His  apostles,  thus  miraculously 
endowed,  should  repeat  the  same  form  of  consecration, 
was  also  natural  and  becoming.  But  that  a  priestly 
caste  should  claim,  through  century  after  century,  when 
the  age  of  miraculous  endowments  is  past,  that  the  im- 
position of  their  hands  still  works  the  same  transcendent 
miracle,  is  to  my  mind  a  monstrous  assumption. 

To  stop  Ritualism  the  one  sure  step  is  to  challenge 
this  gross  conception,  known  as  Apostolic  Succession. 
No  one  can  hold  it  and  be,  logically,  a  Protestant.  He 
is  in  open  schism,  if  not  under  the  Head  of  that  Succes- 
sion— the  Pope.  The  true  apostolic  succession  is  that 
of  an  apostolic  life.  Ordination,  I  take  it,  is  alike  ex- 
pedient and  becoming ;  but  while  I  thankfully  accept  my 
orders  from  the  chief  officer  of  the  Church  appointed  to 
confer  them,  I  look  for  my  graces  as  a  clergyman  to  the 
direct  bestowment  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  promised  to  true 
and  faithful  ministers,  and  shrink  from  the  idea  that  he 
should  descend  to  me  through  episcopal  fingers.  I 
yield  to  no  man  in  my  loyalty  to  duly  constituted  au- 
thorities, but  I  repudiate  an  attempt  to  put  them  on  a 
level  with  the  degraded  priesthoods  of  false  religions. 
A  bishop  is  a  chief  shepherd,  not  a  chief  magician  :  he 


Preface  to  the  American  Edition.  xv 

is  a  man  to  be  honoured  for  his  venerable  office,  but  he 
is  no  more  than  a  man. 

It  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  it  is  no  question  of 
mere  abstract  theology  for  which  Protestantism  now 
contends.  It  is  for  the  vital  principle  of  Christianity,  as 
contrasted  with  all  other  religions.  With  the  rent  veil 
of  the  Temple  human  priesthoods  were  forever  abolished. 
Henceforth,  the  priest  was  an  anachronism.  His  ser- 
vices had  been  of  value  in  the  childhood  of  tlie  race,  but 
Christ  came  to  make  us  men. 

The  Episcopal  Communion  in  America,  if  it  would 
prosper,  and  if  it  would  be  true  to  liberty,  must  free  it- 
self from  the  clerical  usurpation  which  threatens  it.  The 
bishops  of  the  various  dioceses  may  check  the  evil  at 
once,  if  they  think  fit,  by  ordaining  only  Protestants  to 
the  ministry.  As  to  the  congregations,  they  have  the 
power,  in  the  United  States  and  in  Canada,  as  voluntary 
societies,  of  insisting  that  their  clergymen  shall  be  New 
Testament  Christians,  not  Judaizers  or  Romanists. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP. 

I.  A  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries 

IL  The  Thirteenth  Century  

in.  John  Wycliffe 

rV.  The  Lollards       

V.  The  Church  before  the  Reformation    ... 
VI.  The  Eve  of  the  Reformation    ...        ,,. 

VII.  The  Hour  before  Dawn • 

VnL  Catherine  of  Arragon 

IX.  Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Roiao  ... 
X.  England  declared  free  from  Rome 

XI.  The  First  Martyrs         

XII.  The  Forlorn  Hope  of  Freedom... 

Xin.  The  Pope  finally  Disowned      

V.  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries 

XV.  Queen  Anne  Boleyn      

XVL  The  Bible  in  English 

XVII.  Fifteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-seven    ... 

XVIII,  The  Struggle  against  Reform 

XIX.  Light  and  Darkness     

XX.  The  Fall  of  Cromwell 


PAGB 
1 

16 

31 

50 

66 

82 

.     105 

,     124 

,     142 

.     163 

.     183 

.     209 

.     220 

.     244 

.     263 

.     287 

.     300 

.     312 

.    327 

.     344 


Contents. 


CHAP. 

XXL  England  in  the  Years  1542-43 
XXII.  Close  of  Henry's  Reign  

XXIII.  The  Protootorato  

XXIV.  Death  of  Edward  VL 

XXV.  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary 

XXVL  "Drunk  with  the  Blood  of  the  Saints  " 
XXVn.  "  Tho  Protestant  Reformed  Faith  "  Established 


PAGE 

361 
377 
,  395 
,  413 
,  436 
.  462 
.  483 


THE 


ENGLISH  REFORMATION. 


CHAPTER   I. 

A  GLANCE  AT  ELEVEN  CENTURIES. 

ONE  of  the  commonest  charges  against  the  Reformation  is 
that  it  was  brought  about  simply  by  the  violence  and 
passions  of  Henry  VIH.  Like  Prospero  in  the  "  Tempest,"  he 
is  credited  with  having  raised  a  storm  by  his  unholy  arts  on  a 
hitherto  peaceful  and  smiling  sea.  Till  he  rose  all  was  halcyon : 
England  was  made  Protestant  by  him  in  revenge  for  the  Pope's 
refusing  him  a  divorce  ! 

Unfortunately  for  this  comforting  theory,  it  ignores  the  funda- 
mental characteristics  of  all  such  revolutions.  No  great  change 
in  religion  or  politics  is,  or  can  be,  the  creation  of  any  one  man. 
The  leaders  of  such  revolutions  are  their  creatures,  not  their 
first  cause  :  they  simply  act  as  the  agent  to  bring  to  a  crisis 
long-ripening  preparations.  A  revolution  must  be  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  else  it  could  never  be  accomplished 
All  the  men  who  ever  introduced  a  new  era  in  politics  or 
religion — Julius  Caesar,  Luther,  Henry  VIII.,  John  Wesley — 
only  took  the  tide  of  popular  feeling  at  the  full,  and  were  borne 
on  by  it  to  the  results  they  attained.  They  hoisted  the  sail,  and 
stood  at  the  helm  ;  but  the  spirit  of  the  age  bore  them  along.  I 
speak,  of  course,  only  of  the  human  side  of  affairs. 


2  The  English  Reformation.  [A.D.449. 

To  seek  the  causes  of  the  English  Reformation,  then,  we  must 
go  back  through  centuries,  and,  doing  so,  we  shall  find  that  it 
had  long  become  inevitable.  The  old  state  of  society  under 
which  men  had  lived  had  gradually  become  unfit  for  the  new 
conditions  in  politics,  religion,  social  organization,  and  intel- 
lectual activity,  on  which  they  had  entered.  Reform,  wide  and 
fundamental,  had  come  to  be  imperative. 

Christianity  reached  England  very  early,  but  we  do  not  know 
who  brought  it  to  our  shores.  Tertullian,  writing  in  his  rhetorical 
way,  about  the  year  a.d,  200,  speaks  of  those  places  of  Britain 
into  which  the  Roman  arms  had  not  penetrated,  as  being 
subject  to  Christ,  and  even  Dr.  Lingard,  the  Roman  Catholic 
historian,  owns  that,  before  the  close  of  the  second  century, 
Christianity  had  been  received  among  the  tribes  of  North 
Cumberland.^  He  adds  that  "  believers  in  Christianity  were 
numerous,  and  that  a  regular  hierarchy  had  been  instituted  before 
the  close  of  the  third  century ;"  for  "  by  contemporary  writers 
the  Church  in  Britain  is  always  put  on  an  equality  with  the 
Churches  of  Spain  and  Gaul."^ 

But  this  early  light  was  destined  to  a  sad  eclipse.  The  first 
landing  of  the  old  English  race  from  the  Continent,  at  Ebbsfleet, 
in  the  island  of  Thanet,  in  the  year  449,  was  the  beginning  of  a 
movement  which,  ere  long,  well-nigh  quenched  it.  The  Celtic 
tribes  which,  under  the  name  of  British,  had  hitherto  held  the 
land,  were  step  by  step  overpowered,  till  they  were  either  driven 
to  the  West,  or  crushed  into  slaves.  The  struggle,  indeed, 
lasted  for  centuries;  but  when  a  nation  is  fighting  for  its  existence, 
all  its  institutions  feel  the  terrible  strain,  and  the  British  Church 
could  not  have  been  an  exception.  Doubtless,  amidst  the  wreck 
of  the  old  population,  Christianity  still  kept  its  place  in  some 
bosoms ;  but  the  conquerors  were  rude  and  savage  heathen,  and 
they  ruled  the  land.  England  needed  to  be  converted  a  second 
time.     The  new-comers  were  little  disposed  to  take  a  faith  from 

'  Hist,  of  i  ngland,  i.  66.  ^  Ibtd.,  i.  67. 


A.D.  596]  ^  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries,  3 

a  despised  and  hostile  race.  The  impulse  must  come  from 
without. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  Gregory  the  Great, 
nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  first  landing  of  the 
English  in  Britain,  sent  Augustine,  a  Roman  abbot,  to  win  over 
our  forefathers  from  their  heathenism.  Popes  had  then  no  such 
high  notions  of  their  dignity  as  in  later  times.  The  Eastern, 
the  Alexandrian,  the  Gallican,  and  the  Roman  Churches,  which 
all,  alike,  claimed  to  have  been  founded  by  Apostles,  were  as  yet 
independent  of  each  other,  and  had,  each,  its  own  liturgy ;  and 
Gregory  did  not  think  of  "  commanding,"  but  only  of  exhorting 
their  Heads,*  The  right  of  the  Pope  to  be  the  ultimate  Court  of 
Appeal  in  religious  matters,  was,  indeed,  already  urged,  but  it 
was  still  in  dispute.  Centuries  were  to  pass  before  the  doctrines 
we  regard  as  specially  Roman  were  to  hide  the  simplicity  of 
primitive  Christianity. 

After  turning  back,  faint-hearted,  by  the  way,  at  the  entreaty  of 
the  band  of  monks  he  had  with  him,  Augustine  and  they  at  last 
landed,  in  the  year  596,  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  and  were  received  by 
Ethelbert,  the  King,  sitting  in  the  open  air,  on  the  Chalk-down 
above  Minster.  The  Queen,  Berta,  daughter  of  the  Frank  King  of 
Paris,  was,  like  her  father's  people,  a  Christian,  and  her  marriage 
had  offered  an  opportunity,  which  had  wisely  been  seized,  for 
Augustine's  mission.  A  sermon,  made  longer  by  needing  to  be 
interpreted,  explained  the  object  of  the  strangers,  and  gained  a 
promise  of  protection  and  shelter  in  Canterbury,  the  local 
capital.  Thither  the  band  of  monks  presently  set  forth,  entering 
it  with  a  silver  cross  borne  before  them,  and  chanting  the  Roman 
litany.  The  Latin  Church  had  found  a  first  home  for  itself  in 
England,  and  was  in  the  end  to  make  it  her  own. 

Ethelbert  yielded,  after  a  year,  to  the  new  faith,  and,  ere  long, 
a  daughter  of  Berta,  going  to  the  north  as  consort  of  Edwin, 
King  of  Northumberland, — then,  in  reality  lord  of  the  whole  of 


'  Gregor.  I.,  by  Klaiber ;  Herzog,  v.  327. 


4  The  English  Reformation.  [ajj.  664. 

England  except  Kent, — took  one  of  the  monks,  Paulinus,  with 
her.  His  queen  and  Pauhnus,  between  them,  soon  gained  over 
Edwin,  and  thus,  both  in  the  north  and  south,  the  new  faith  took 
a  nominal  root.  But  heathenism  died  hard.  With  the  death  of 
Ethelbert  came  a  reaction  in  favour  of  the  old  faith  ;  the  Roman 
Church  in  Kent  sank  into  inaction;  Paulinus  fled  on  King 
Edwin's  being  slain  in  633,  in  battle  with  the  heathen  king  of 
Central  England,  or  Mercia,  and  the  place  of  Rome  was  taken 
by  missionaries  of  the  Irish  Church.  From  Holy  Island,  in 
Northumberland,  their  head-quarters  in  England,  their  preachers 
went  forth  over  the  land,  and  became  the  real  apostles  of  England. 
Aidan,  Ceadda,  St.  Cuthbert,  John  of  Beverley,  Colman,  gave 
us  our  Church,  rather  than  Augustine  or  Paulinus.  Not  till  664 
did  Rome  succeed,  at  a  Church  Council  at  Whitby,  held  under 
King  Oswi,  in  regaining  her  old  fooling  by  pressing  on  the  igno- 
rant Northumbrian  the  sacred  claims  of  St.  Peter.  The  Irish 
monks  left  England  rather  than  submit. 

The  victory  gained  at  Whitby  was  not  left  unimproved. 
Theodore  of  Tarsus,  a  Greek  monk,  was  sent  from  Rome  as 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  to  him  we  owe  the  Church  of 
England,  as  we  know  it  to-day.  He  added  many  new  sees  to 
the  old  ones,  and  linked  them  all  to  Canterbury ;  broke  off  all 
connection  with  the  Irish  Church  ;  gathered  the  bishops  in  suc- 
cessive synods  till  they  all  submitted  to  his  authority,  and  after 
thus  organizing  the  episcopate,  divided  the  land  into  parishes, 
and  took  what  measures  he  could  to  provide  for  the  clergy.  The 
Christian  faith  had  at  last  gained  the  day.  In  Central  England 
the  Abbey  of  Peterborough,  then,  doubtless,  a  rude  enough 
structure,  ere  long  rose,  and  the  Abbey  of  Crowland  and  that 
of  Ely  followed  soon  after.  The  importance  of  this  wide  and 
systematic  action  in  its  influence  on  the  national  history  cannot 
be  over-rated.  The  Church  had  found  our  island  divided  into 
seven  or  eight  distinct  nationalities,  with  no  common  organization 
or  tendency  towards  it,  but  by  gradually  winning  them  over  to 
a  single  faith  it  bad  in  the  end  taught  them  to  regard  them- 


Aj).  901.]  A  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries.  5 

selves  as  one  people.  Theodore's  distribution  of  the  country 
into  dioceses  representing  the  different  kingdoms  or  provinces 
of  its  disunited  state,  and  joining  all  these  into  a  Christian 
Church,  with  a  common  centre  at  Canterbury,  first  woke  the 
national  sentiment  which  has  made  our  country  one  great 
whole. 

Theodore  had  foimded  a  school  at  Canterbury,  but  the  dis- 
trict in  which  the  Irish  missionaries  had  laboured,  long  remained 
the  special  seat  of  religion  and  literature.  England  had  had  its 
ecclesiastical  centre  for  a  hundred  years  at  Aidan  and  Cuth- 
bert's  cell  on  Lindisfarne,  not  at  Canterbury,  and  the  light  shed 
from  that  lonely  spot  faded  away  only  slowly.  The  greatest 
name  of  the  early  English  Church  is  that  of  the  Venerable  Bede, 
of  Jarrow.  Six  hundred  monks,  and  many  strangers,  attended 
him  as  students,  and  alike  by  his  instructions  and  writings  he 
rightly  earned  the  name  of  the  Father  of  English  learning. 
Forty-five  works  on  theology,  and  on  all  the  branches  of  know- 
ledge then  studied,  including  the  classics,  remain  to  attest  his 
industry  and  attainments  ;  and  his  last  labour,  the  translation  of 
St.  John's  Gospel  into  English,  showed  not  only  his  own  piety, 
but  the  freedom  of  the  Church  in  his  day. 

But  wars  between  the  different  English  kingdoms,  and  after- 
wards the  terrible  inroads  of  the  Danes,  which  were  spread  over 
nearly  two  hundred  years,  well-nigh  undid  the  work  of  the  two 
centuries  that  had  passed  since  Augustine's  landing.  Letters, 
arts,  religion,  government  well-nigh  disappeared  before  the 
heathen  Northmen,  nor  have  we  any  English  name  associated 
with  a  partial  restoration  of  better  days  till  we  come  to  that  of 
King  Alfred  (871 — 901).  The  Danes  had  almost  extirpated  the 
Christian  teachers  in  some  districts,  and  had  left  them  sunk  in 
gross  ignorance,  where  they  still  remained.  To  remedy  this, 
Alfred  drew  round  him  the  learned  of  foreign  countries,  trans- 
lated such  books  as  could  be  had  into  English,  and  founded 
schools.  Fifty  years  after  him  another  great  man — Dunstan — 
Primate  and  virtual  ruler  of  England — helped  on  the  good  work 


6  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  107a 

thus  grandly  begun.  In  an  age  still  almost  inconceivably  rude, 
he  laboured  hard  to  reform  the  Church,  and  to  give  peace  and 
good  government  to  the  people.  Unfortunately,  he  was  intensely 
a  monk,  and  fancied  the  remedy  for  Church  abuses  lay  in  the 
spread  of  monasteries,  and  the  enforcement  of  celibacy  on  the 
clergy.  Submission  in  all  points  to  Rome  was  a  cardinal  point 
with  him,  but  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  Rome  was  not  yet 
what  she  afterwards  became.  Even  monkery  was  little  more 
than  a  profession  of  living  unmarried,  but,  as  with  St.  Bernard 
(1091 — 1 153),  the  monastic  ideal  engrossed  him.  The  clergy 
were  thrust  out  of  churches,  and  monks  put  in  their  place  ;  the 
endowments  of  parishes  were  transferred  to  monasteries,  of 
which  he  himself  founded  and  endowed  forty-eight,  setting  an 
example  which  was  widely  followed  in  every  part  of  the  land. 
Hatred  was  kindled  between  the  ecclesiastical  orders  thus  dif- 
ferently treated,  and  the  monks,  whom  the  Popes  ere  long  made 
independent  of  the  bishops,  and  thus  free  from  control,  speedily 
took  the  lead  in  the  Church,  and  kept  it  till  the  Reformation. 
Little  as  he  intended  it,  for  he  was  a  man  of  the  purest  life  and 
not  at  all  an  ascetic,  Dunstan  in  reality  introduced  a  system 
which  in  the  end  grew  so  utterly  corrupt  that  it  fell  by  its  own 
rottenness.  Meanwhile,  his  restless  efforts  secured  above  a 
third  of  the  land  in  the  West-Saxon  kingdom  for  the  Church — 
that  is,  mainly  for  the  monks. 

The  eleventh  century  had  seen  a  prodigious  ecclesiastical 
activity  in  Normandy.  Monasteries  had  risen  in  every  forest 
glade.  Lanfranc's  school  at  Bee  had  become  the  most  famous 
in  Christendom,  and  round  him  were  gathered  scholars  who 
were  to  be  the  teachers  and  master-spirits  of  the  next  age. 
Under  William  the  Norman,  Lanfranc  became  Primate  of 
England,  and  brought  with  him  his  Norman  ideas.  An  English- 
man had  been  deposed  to  make  way  for  him,  and  ere  long  most 
of  the  English  bishops  and  abbots  were  superseded  by  others 
from  Normandy.  For  the  first  time  separate  courts,  for  so- 
called  ecclesiastical  causes,  were  granted  to  these  new  foreign 


A.D.  ic85.]  ^  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries.  7 

prelates,  some  of  whom,  however,  were  exemplary  men,  and  did 
not  abuse  the  privilege. 

But  however  ready  William  may  have  been  to  serve  the 
Church  in  this  commendable  way,  he  set  his  face  steadfastly 
against  its  political  ambition.  Gregory  VII. — Hildebrand — 
was  Pope,  and  his  arrogance  had  raised  the  assumptions  of  the 
Papacy  to  the  highest.  He  even  called  on  William  to  do  fealty 
to  him  for  England,  but  was  met  with  a  stem  refusal.  The 
bishops  were  made  strictly  dependent  on  the  throne.  Homage 
was  exacted  from  them  as  rigidly  as  from  barons.  No  royal 
vassal  could  be  excommunicated  without  the  royal  Hcence.  As 
in  our  own  day,  and  ever  since  the  Reformation,  no  synod  could 
legislate  without  the  king's  previous  consent,  and  its  decrees 
were  only  binding  when  confirmed  by  him.  His  permission 
was  required  before  any  Papal  letters  could  enter  the  realm,  or 
any  Pope  be  acknowledged.  The  royal  supremacy  of  the  Con- 
queror was,  in  fact,  asserted  and  maintained  as  vigorously  as 
that  of  Victoria.  Even  Peter's  pence  were  allowed  only  as  a 
free  gift,  not  as  an  obligation,  and  Lanfranc  was  not  permitted 
to  go  to  Rome,  though  the  Pope  had  repeatedly  commanded 
him  to  do  so. 

The  political  intolerableness  of  the  Papal  claims  lay,  indeed, 
on  the  surface.  Each  country  in  Christendom  was  mapped  out 
into  an  all-embracing  territorial  organization,  in  which  the 
priest  was  under  the  bishop,  he  under  the  archbishop,  and  the 
archbishop  in  turn  responsible  to  the  Pope,  in  whose  hands  all 
ecclesiastical  power  was  thus  finally  centred.  Besides  this,  the 
different  orders  of  monks  looked  directly  to  Rome. 

This  ghostly  empire  strove  from  the  first  to  keep  itself  distinct 
from  the  civil  power  in  each  country,  claiming  a  higher  autho- 
rity and  a  loftier  origin.  Kings  were  expected  to  obtain  its 
sanction  as  a  security  to  their  thrones,  and  to  hold  those  thrones 
on  condition  of  compliance  with  its  demands.  Its  courts  could 
try  citizens,  but  it  claimed  that  ecclesiastics  were  amenable  only 
to  its  own  tribunals.  The  authority  for  these  was  the  Pope's, 
2 


8  The  English  Reformation.  [ad. noo. 

and  the  final  appeal  in  all  was  to  Rome,  not  to  the  king.  The 
Church  was  thus  a  separate  kingdom,  within  any  country, 
governed  by  its  own  laws,  subject  to  its  own  ruler,  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  established  government  and  the  laws  of  the 
land. 

The  superstition  of  mankind  made  such  a  system  a  tremend- 
ous danger  alike  to  monarch  and  subjects.  As  the  absolute 
lord  of  Christendom,  the  Pope  could  foment  invasion  from 
abroad  and  rebellion  from  within,  if  his  demands  were  resisted. 
In  any  case  the  Church  obtruded  itself  on  every  hand  into  the 
affairs  of  daily  hfe.  It  alone  baptized,  married,  and  buried.  All 
wills  had  to  be  proved  in  its  courts.  It  held,  as  was  believed, 
the  keys  of  heaven  and  of  hell.  To  offend  it  was  not  only  to 
incur  spiritual  but  temporal  calamity,  for  besides  the  terrors  of 
the  unseen  world  it  had  at  its  service  the  very  tangible  penalties 
of  the  civil  law.  Under  Hildebrand  the  most  audacious  claims 
had  already  been  advanced  to  a  haughty  despotism  which  left 
the  civil  government  only  the  execution  of  its  commands. 

It  was  well,  therefore,  that  William  resisted  it  thus  early  and 
thus  firmly. 

The  progress  of  Roman  doctrine  was,  meanwhile,  steady.  A 
canon  passed  at  a  Council  in  1076,  permitted  such  of  the  clergy 
as  had  wives  to  keep  them,  for  married  priests  were  still  too 
numerous  to  offend  :  those  who  had  none  were  forbidden  to 
marry,  and  no  married  man  was  henceforth  to  be  ordained.  The 
high  Romish  doctrine  of  the  sacraments  also  had  a  powerful 
advocate  in  Lanfranc. 

Under  the  Red  King  (William  II.,  1087 — iioo),  the  Primacy, 
for  a  time  vacant,  was  afterwards  thrust  on  Anselm,  Lan 
franc's  pupil  at  Bee,  one  of  the  most  able,  learned,  and  worthy 
men  of  the  age  ;  but  a  stern  and  uncompromising  Church- 
man of  the  Hildebrand  school.  In  one  aspect  it  was  a  great 
aid  to  the  liberties  of  the  people  that  any  one  should  resist 
the  fierce  despotism  of  the  crown,  but  if,  at  times,  the  resis- 
tance was  offered  on  worthy  grounds,  at  others  it  was  that  of 


A.D.  IIC38.]  ^  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries.  9 

the  Churchman  rather  than  the  patriot.  Thus,  after  the  death 
of  Rufus,  Anselm  refused,  on  the  ground  of  a  canon  of  a 
Roman  Council,  to  do  homage  to  Henry  I.  (iioo — ii35)for 
the  temporalities  of  his  see,  and  demanded  that  the  king  should 
give  up  the  right  of  bestowing  ecclesiastical  benefices,  and 
resign  the  investiture  of  them  to  the  Pope.  The  struggle  grew 
keener  by  continuance,  and  England  was  on  the  eve  of  a  poli- 
tical rupture  with  Rome,  in  consequence,  more  than  four  hundred 
years  before  she  finally  separated  from  it.  The  question  of  a 
layman  bestowing  benefices  and  securing  homage  from  the 
clergy  was,  in  fact,  convulsing  all  Christendom  in  these  years. 
The  controversy  ended  in  England,  for  the  time,  by  a  compro- 
mise, the  king  undertaking  to  forego,  for  himself,  or  any  lay 
patron,  the  investiture  of  any  bishop  or  abbot  by  delivering  him 
a  pastoral  staff  and  ring,  and  the  clergy,  on  the  other  hand,  being 
allowed  to  do  homage  for  their  benefices. 

Anselm,  like  a  monk,  was  fierce  in  his  hostility  to  the  married 
clergy.  The  canons  of  one  Council  in  1 108,  strove  to  enforce 
celibacy  by  the  unholy  means  of  putting  away  lawfully-married 
wives.  Even  at  so  late  a  date  were  the  English  clergy,  in  great 
part,  married  men.  It  was  only  now,  also,  that  marriage  in  any 
case,  was  forbidden  within  the  seventh  degree  of  kindred, — a 
law  than  which  none  has  yielded  more  money  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  for  dispensations  from  it,  or  caused  more  scandal.  Under 
Henry,  the  first  English  Council  presided  over  by  a  legate  of 
the  Pope  was  held.  The  ancient  liberties  of  the  Church  were 
being  steadily  sapped  by  the  Papacy. 

But  amidst  this  absorbing  struggle  for  power  on  the  part  of 
Rome,  the  national  clergy  were,  happily,  to  some  extent,  intent 
on  higher  matters.  Thanks  to  men  like  Lanfranc,  Anselm,  and 
the  better-minded  among  the  bishops  and  clergy,  the  torpor  into 
which  the  Church  had  sunk  from  the  appointment,  after  the 
Conquest,  of  foreigners  to  the  higher  offices — men  cut  off  by 
their  language  and  sympathies  from  their  humbler  brethren  and 
the  people — was  broken,  and  a  wave  of  religious  enthusiasm 


10  The  English  Reformation.  [ajj.  1154. 

passed  over  the  land.  In  the  later  years  of  Henry's  reign 
and  in  that  of  Stephen  (11 35 — 1154),  a  wide-spread  revival  of 
devotion  filled  the  woods  with  hermits,  spread  austere  monasteries 
over  the  moors  and  forests  of  the  north,  and  raised  lasting  monu- 
ments of  its  intensity  in  the  new  churches,  cathedrals,  and 
foundations,  in  the  towns  and  cities.  In  London,  St.  Paul's 
began  to  rise,  and  the  Priory  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  built  in  the 
swamp  of  Smithfield,  besides  other  churches  and  monasteries.  As 
yet,  the  Church  in  opposing  the  Crown,  had  the  sympathy  of  the 
people,  who  were  glad  to  see  despotism  thus  bearded,  and  this 
sympathy  showed  itself  in  such  mutual  help. 

The  nineteen  years  of  Stephen's  reign  were  a  dismal  interval  of 
bitter  civil  war,  in  which  the  Church  claimed  the  right  of  deposing 
Stephen  and  Matilda  by  turns,  but  it  had  the  credit,  in  the  end, 
of  effecting  the  compromise  which  at  Stephen's  death  left  the 
throne  to  Matilda's  son,  Henry  II.  (1154 — 1189). 

The  influence  of  the  bishops  was  indeed  immense.  They 
were  the  link  between  the  throne  and  the  people,  and  the  defence 
of  both  against  the  barons.  The  nation  as  yet  accorded  them 
much  of  the  implicit  faith  and  obedience  they  had  rendered 
their  own  English  bishops  before  the  Conquest,  and  even  the 
schools  into  which  they  and  the  higher  clergy  might  be  said  to 
have  been  divided,  added  to  their  power  in  the  State.  The 
ministers  of  the  Crown  were  ecclesiastics,  and  under  them  were 
the  great  body  of  their  brethren,  who  set  their  hearts  much  more 
on  worldly  comfort  and  honour  than  on  their  spiritual  calling  j 
the  prototypes,  as  Professor  Stubbs  aptly  puts  it,  of  the  clerical 
magistrates  of  our  own  day — men  far  greater  at  Quarter  Sessions 
or  county  meetings  than  in  Convocation  or  missionary  work.  A 
second  class  comprised  those  who  were  above  all  things  Church? 
men,  living  and  scheming  in  ecclesiastical  politics  as  their 
chosen  element — men  to  whom  the  Pope,  the  canon  law,  and 
the  glory  of  their  order  were  all  in  all.  Apart  from  them,  and 
far  nobler,  were  those,  again,  to  whom  worldly  honours  and 
Church  ambition  were  indifferent — men  whose  souls  were  set  on 


A.D.  ii64.]  A  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries.  II 

higher  things — the  saints  and  martyrs  to  whom  we  owe  the 
transmission  of  true  Christian  example  and  teaching. 

The  new  reign  of  Henry  II.  is  memorable  as  that  of  the  struggle 
with  Thomas  k  Becket,  who,  from  a  gay  courtier,  became,  on 
the  instant  of  his  consecration  as  Primate,  an  ultra-Churchman. 

The  state  of  the  Church  and  the  country  had  become  terribly 
deteriorated  in  the  long  civil  wars.  Among  the  clergy,  says  a 
contemporary,  were  many  church-robbers,  adulterers,  highway- 
men, thieves,  incendiaries,  and  murderers.  Venality  reigned 
everywhere,  from  Rome  to  the  humblest  archdeaconry.  The 
mass  of  Churchmen,  of  all  ranks,  were  ignorant,  dissolute,  and 
lawless.  Becket  himself  was  a  gross  pluralist.  He  had  re- 
solved to  be  head  of  both  State  and  Church.  "  Tell  the  king," 
said  he,  in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  "  that  the  Lord  of 
men  and  angels  has  established  two  powers,  Princes  and  Priests, 
the  first  earthly,  the  second  spiritual:  the  first  to  obey,  the 
second  to  command.  Tell  him  it  is  no  dishonour  to  him  to 
submit  to  those  to  whom  God  Himself  defers,  calling  them  gods 
in  the  sacred  writings."  * 

The  bishops'  courts  established  by  the  Conqueror  had  proved 
a  mistake.  Crimes  of  all  kinds  among  the  clergy  were  left  un- 
punished. The  privileges  of  sanctuary  in  churches  and  church- 
yards enabled  the  worst  criminals  to  escape  justice.  Henry 
determined  to  introduce  reforms  on  points  that  so  much  re- 
quired them.  A  concordat  between  the  Church  and  State  was 
presented  to  a  Council  at  Clarendon,  many  clauses  of  which 
were  only  the  re-enactment  of  the  system  established  by  the 
Conqueror.  Bishops  or  abbots  were  to  be  elected  in  the  king's 
chapel,  before  his  officers,  and  with  his  consent.  Episcopal 
lands  were  to  be  held  as  a  barony  from  the  king,  homage  was 
to  be  done  for  them  before  consecration,  and  they  were  to  be 
subject  to  all  feudal  burdens,  like  other  estates.  The  royal  per- 
mission was  needed  for  a  bishop's  leaving  England.    No  vassal 

'  Hoveden,  vol.  L  261. 


12  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1170. 

of  the  Crown  could  be  excommunicated  except  by  the  king's 
consent.  All  this  had  been  the  law  for  a  hundred  years,  but 
what  followed  was  new.  It  was  to  be  decided  by  the  king's 
court  whether  any  question  between  a  clerk  and  a  layman  be- 
longed to  the  Church  courts  or  the  king's,  and  various  checks 
were  to  be  adopted  to  prevent  the  encroachment  of  the  former 
on  the  latter.  The  privilege  of  sanctuary,  as  regarded  property, 
not  persons,  was  repealed.  So  far,  these  demands  were  only 
just.  It  was  right  that  the  only  civil  authority  in  the  land  should 
be  that  of  the  Crown ;  though,  in  those  days,  despotism,  on  the 
one  hand,  like  the  Church  on  the  other,  might  abuse  its  rights. 
But  the  next  clause  marked  the  tyranny  of  the  Norman  rule,  for 
Henry  was  Norman  in  heart.  No  serf's  son  was  to  be  admitted 
to  orders  without  his  lord's  permission.  The  Church  was  offering 
an  escape  from  the  virtual  slavery  into  which  the  peasantry  were 
sinking,  and  this  must  be  stopped. 

After  earnest  resistance,  Becket  at  last  signed  the  concordat, 
but  he  presently  retracted.  He  was  partly  right,  partly  wrong, 
partly  the  champion  of  the  people  against  the  Crown,  partly 
of  the  Church  against  law  and  order.  Unfortunately  for  his 
fame,  he  stood  out  resolutely  only  against  such  articles  as 
touched  "the  honour  of  his  order."  The  rest  he  agreed  to 
accept.  After  six  years'  exile  in  Flanders — years  filled  with 
violence  and  excommunications — he  was  allowed  to  return,  but 
it  was  only  to  be  murdered,  without  Henry's  knowledge.  His 
death  made  Becket  a  saint  and  a  martyr,  but  the  great  king  had 
gained  his  ends.  Ecclesiastical  appointments  were  left  in  effect 
in  his  hands ;  the  bishops  remained  loyal,  and  the  civil  courts 
kept  their  power  over  the  ecclesiastical.  In  the  main,  the 
struggle  had  been  for  the  rule  of  equal  law  to  all  citizens. 
Becket  had  claimed  exemption  for  the  clergy.  The  Church  re- 
mained, as  ever  in  England,  rightly  subordinate  to  the  State  in 
all  civil  relations,  for  the  Pope  himself  had  to  confirm  the  Con- 
stitution of  Clarendon  at  the  Council  of  Avranches,  when  he 
saw  that  the  king  was  firm. 


A.D.  1204]  -^  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries,  13 

Henry,  with  all  his  genius  and  vigour,  and  admirable  services 
to  political  liberty  as  against  the  despotism  of  the  Church,  had 
been  a  wild,  ungodly  man.  He  died  with  a  curse  on  his  lips 
against  God  for  letting  his  sons  rise  against  him.  Richard  the 
Lion-Heart,  his  eldest  son,  who  succeeded  him,  was  hardly  an 
English  king,  for  he  spent  his  hfe  abroad.  Nor  was  he  a  better 
man  than  his  father,  for  he  passed  away  bitterly  mocking  the 
priests  who  exhorted  him  to  restitution  and  repentance ;  and 
John  (1199 — 1216),  his  second  son,  who  next  became  king,  was 
so  ruthless  and  vile  that  men  whispered  that  hell  would  be  made 
still  fouler  when  he  entered  it. 

The  first  trouble  between  this  worst  of  English  kings  and  the 
Church  was  provoked  by  himself.  Hubert  Walter,  the  Chief 
Justiciar  of  England,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Legate, 
having  thwarted  him  in  raising  funds  for  a  campaign  in  support 
of  his  relatives  in  Anjou,  roused  his  fierce  wrath,  but  dying  soon 
after,  John,  as  he  hoped,  secured  himself  henceforth  from  such 
opposition  by  making  a  creature  of  his  own  Primate.  The 
monks  of  Canterbury  had,  however,  already  chosen  an  arch- 
bishop, and  both  parties  hastened  to  appeal  to  Rome.  The 
reigning  Pope — Innocent  IIL  (1198 — 12 16) — was  haughtier, 
however,  than  was  even  Hildebrand,  and  putting  aside  both 
elections,  commanded  the  monkish  deputies  from  Canterbury, 
then  in  Rome,  forthwith  to  elect  Cardinal  Stephen  Langton, 
then  also  in  Rome,  to  the  vacant  primacy.  The  choice  was 
admirable,  for  Langton  was  an  excellent  man  ;  but  his  appoint- 
ment by  the  mere  will  of  the  Pope  was  a  splendid  audacity, 
which  ignored  at  once  the  rights  of  the  English  Crown  and 
Church.  John  met  the  act  by  defiance,  and,  when  threatened 
with  an  interdict,  replied  that  if  it  came  he  would  banish  the 
clergy  and  mutilate  every  Italian  found  in  England.  But  the 
Pope  was  as  resolute  as  the  king,  and  proclaimed  the  fell 
curse.  All  worship  except  that  of  some  privileged  orders,  all 
sacraments  except  private  baptism,  ceased ;  the  dead  were 
buried  without  religious  rites  and  the  churches  closed.    John, 


14  The  English  Reformation.  la.d.  uij. 

in  turn,  confiscated  the  lands  of  all  the  clergy  who  obeyed  the 
interdict,  brought  them  before  his  own  courts,  and  left  offences 
against  them  unpunished.  Innocent  Avaited  for  two  years,  and 
then  proceeded  to  excommunicate  the  king.  But  John  was  as 
defiant  as  ever.  Though  canonically  required  to  do  so,  none  of 
the  clergy  dared  treat  him  as  his  excommunication  demanded. 
One,  an  archdeacon,  who  did  so,  was  crushed  to  death  under 
weights.  A  last  resource  was  left  to  the  Pope  if  he  would  not 
be  beaten.  Holding  that  John,  as  an  excommunicated  man, 
had  ceased  to  have  any  rights  as  king  of  a  Christian  nation,  he 
proclaimed  a  crusade  against  him,  after  formally  deposing  him, 
by  virtue  of  the  alleged  right  of  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter  to 
dethrone  rulers  who  offended  it ;  and  Philip  of  France  was 
ordered  to  carry  out  the  sentence.  But  John  treated  the  whole 
matter  with  such  contempt  that  he  allowed  the  Papal  Legate  to 
proclaim  his  deposition  in  his  own  presence,  at  Northampton, 
and  gathered  a  huge  army  on  Barham  Heath,  while  the  English 
fleet,  crossing  the  Channel,  took  some  of  Philip's  ships  and 
burned  Dieppe.    The  Pope  was  utterly  powerless. 

John  was,  however,  as  base  as  he  was  energetic.  His  reckless 
vice  and  cruelty  had  spread  secret  conspiracy  among  his  barons, 
and  had  thus  crippled  great  plans  he  had  formed  for  invading 
France.  To  break  up  the  plots,  and  to  gain  allies  for  the  war, 
he  must  be  reconciled  to  the  Pope  ;  and  seeing  that  it  would  be 
for  his  advantage  to  be  so,  he  suddenly  humbled  himself  as 
meanly  as  he  before  had  borne  himself  bravely.  Not  only 
would  he  receive  Langton  and  the  bishops  who  had  fled,  and 
restore  the  money  he  had  taken  from  the  Church  :  he  solemnly 
resigned  both  crown  and  country  into  the  hands  of  the  Pope's 
Legate,  and  received  them  back  again,  to  be  held  by  homage 
on  his  part  to  the  Pope  as  a  vassal. 

John's  object,  however,  was  gained.  A  French  campaign 
followed,  but  it  ended  in  defeat.  He  had  intended  to  revenge 
himself  on  his  barons  when  he  returned,  but  they  had,  in  his 
absence,  resolved  to  demand  that  he  should  swear  to  observe  the 


Ajx  I3I4.]  -^  Glance  at  Eleven  Centuries.  1 5 

laws  of  the  Confessor.  Langton  put  himself  at  their  head,  and 
even  protested  against  his  doing  homage  to  the  Pope.  Next 
year,  at  Runnymede,  the  tyrant  was  forced  to  grant  the  Great 
Charter.  He  had  fancied  that  his  submission  to  the  Pope 
would  give  him  immunity  to  act  as  he  liked  to  his  subjects. 
Innocent,  furious  at  his  vassal  being  resisted,  and  at  his  own 
feudal  dignity  as  Over-lord  of  England  being  treated  so  lightly, 
annulled  the  Charter,  suspended  Langton  from  the  Primacy, 
and  excommunicated  the  barons,  and  the  city  of  London,  for 
supporting  them.  It  was  excellent  training  for  future  indepen- 
dence of  Rome.  Lewis,  the  son  of  the  French  king,  accepted 
the  crown  in  spite  of  Innocent,  and  landed  with  an  army  in 
Thanet,  to  join  the  barons.  Meanwhile,  the  bulk  of  John's 
troops  deserted  him,  and  in  crossing  the  Wash  with  the  rest  he 
was  caught  by  the  tide,  and  his  baggage  and  treasures  were 
lost.  A  few  days  later  he  was  dead,  his  son  proclaimed  king, 
and  Lewis,  forsaken  by  the  English,  was  shortly  after  driven 
back  to  France. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 


THE  arrogance  of  the  Papacy  had  shown  itself  supremely 
in  the  evil  days  of  John's  reign.  To  have  claimed  and 
exacted  homage  for  the  throne  of  England  filled  men's  minds 
with  disgust :  to  have  annulled  the  Great  Charter  roused  their 
fiercest  resistance.  But  these  were  only  two  cases  of  the  in- 
tolerable assumptions  of  Rome.  Appeals  of  all  kinds  were 
heard  there,  and  commands  of  all  kinds  issued,  over-riding  the 
King's  authority.  Richard  the  Lion-Heart  had  had  to  receive  a 
bull  from  Innocent  threatening  that  "  he  would  punish  without 
delay,  and  without  respect  of  persons,  every  one  who  presumed 
to  disobey  his  commands."  A  year  after  he  was  Pope,  that 
champion  of  Romish  claims  had  also  levied  a  tax,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  Papacy,  on  the  English  clergy,  and  on 
those  of  all  Christendom,  by  his  own  authority,  nominally  for 
another  crusade.  "  But,"  says  a  contemporary  historian,  "  it 
will  never  be  applied  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  raised 
unless  the  Romans  have  changed  their  nature."^  He  acted,  in 
fact,  in  all  respects,  the  Over-king  of  Christendom,  and  ignored 
all  regal  prerogatives  and  national  laws.  From  a  benefice  to  a 
crown,  all  things  were  claimed  by  him  as  given  and  held  at  his 
will.     He  compared  himself  to  the  sun,  and  kings  to  the  moon, 

*  Diceto,  quoted  by  Dr.  Henry,  v.  433. 


A.D.  I20I— 1300.]  The  Thirteenth  Century.  17 

shining  by  his  borrowed  light.  He  was  the  ideal  of  a  Pope, 
and  realized  in  part  what  Pius  IX.  in  our  own  day  has  claimed 
in  the  Syllabus. 

Light  and  shadow  were  in  vivid  contrast  in  the  Church  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  If  St.  Bernard  adorned  it,  he  lived  protest- 
ing against  the  corruptions  around  him.  In  the  fifty  years 
ending  in  1204,  in  John's  reign,  there  had  been  three  great 
crusades  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  in  Henry  III.'s  there  were  three 
more,  enriching  the  Church,  especially  the  Papacy,  and  exalting 
its  power  to  the  highest ;  raising  chivalry  to  its  glory,  but 
also  impoverishing  the  barons ;  increasing  the  power  of  cities 
and  towns ;  laying  the  foundation  of  freedom  for  the  peasantry ; 
extending  the  knowledge  of  nations ;  opening  new  avenues  to 
commerce;  intensifying  superstitious  fanaticism  on  the  one 
hand,  but,  on  the  other,  kindling  the  first  dawn  of  inquiry  and 
mental  activity.  It  was  the  age  of  children's  crusades,  but 
also  that  of  the  founding  of  universities.*  It  saw  the  hideous 
massacres  of  the  Albigenses  in  the  name  of  the  Pope ;  and  if 
its  infant  seminaries  woke  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  the  Franciscans 
and  Dominicans  were  presently  founded  ^  to  tread  out  the  first 
sparks  of  mental  independence,  and  the  Augustines  followed,  a 
little  later.'  It  was  the  age  of  the  Minnesingers  in  Germany, 
and  the  culture  of  a  former  generation  in  Italy,  which  had  pro- 
duced Arnold  of  Brescia,  spread  its  widening  circle  into 
England  in  the  comprehensive  attainments  of  Roger  Bacon, 
and  the  acute  metaphysical  theology  of  Duns  Scotus.  Muddy 
Paris  saw  its  streets  for  the  first  time  causewayed ;  but  London 
could  boast  of  few  other  than  thatched  houses.  The  magnet, 
herald  of  the  compass,  was  made  known  in  Europe ;  Italy 
boasted  of  the  new  luxury  of  the  fork  at  table,  and  traders  were 
trying  to  learn  the  simple  Arabic  numerals  in  place  of  the  cum- 
brous Roman. 

'  Paris,  founded  about  1206  ;  Padua,  about  1221  ;  Oxford,  about  1229  ; 
Salamanca,  about  1200.  *  k.D.  1210  and  1216.  *  1256. 


1 8  The  English  Reformation.         [a,d.  1216— U72. 

In  church  architecture,  the  Gothic  arch  had  been  intro- 
duced, and  Cologne  Cathedral  founded.  England,  indeed,  like 
the  Continent,  had  long  boasted  cathedrals,  for  that  of  Durham 
had  been  commenced  in  the  time  of  the  Red  King ;  Canter- 
bury by  Lanfranc,  soon  after  the  Conquest ;  Rochester  eleven 
years  after  the  Norman  victory  ;  Chichester  at  nearly  the  same 
time,  though  not  finished  till  11 48.  Norwich  Cathedral  was 
founded  in  1094,  and  that  of  Winchester  boasts  of  an  equal 
age.  The  vast  wealth  of  the  episcopal  sees  had  been  devoted 
in  part  at  least  to  noble  uses  by  the  first  Norman  prelates — 
learned  and  able  men,  with  a  taste  for  magnificence  brought 
with  them  from  the  Continent.  Since  their  day  the  erec- 
tion of  monasteries  had  been  in  fashion,  for  over  three 
hundred  had  been  founded  between  the  years  a.d.  iioo  and 
1200. 

In  Henry  III.'s  reign  (12 16 — 1272)  this  wealth  and  grandeur 
of  the  Church  had  led  to  inevitable  and  gross  corruption.  The 
local  clergy  were  plundered  by  Rome  ;  the  bishops  had  become 
worldly ;  the  ecclesiastical  courts  oppressive ;  preaching  had 
well-nigh  ceased,  partly  from  the  great  number  of  Italians 
who  held  English  livings ;  and  non-residence  and  ignorance 
equally  characterized  the  mass  of  the  parish  priests.  The 
Church  was  thus  rapidly  losing  its  hold  on  the  people,  when  the 
institution  of  the  orders  of  Friars  for  a  time  won  back  for  it  a 
new  popularity.  The  Dominicans,  in  their  black  gowns,  and  the 
Franciscans  in  their  grey,  passed,  in  their  first  earnestness,  from 
town  to  town,  as  itinerant  preachers,  and  carried  the  hearts  of 
the  people  by  storm,  and  saved  Romanism  for  a  while.  Every- 
where the  political  ambition  of  the  Papacy,  its  insatiable  exac- 
tions, and  its  abuse  of  its  ghostly  terrors  for  the  most  worldly 
ends,  were  sapping  the  ancient  reverence  for  it  in  men's  minds. 
Free-thinking  had  shown  itself  in  Italy ;  southern  France  had 
thrown  off  ecclesiastical  allegiance,  and  turned  Albigensian  ; 
and  even  in  England,  though  still  faithful,  the  greed  of  the 
Popes,  their  insolent  claims,  and  their  political  immorality  were 


A  D.  I21&-1272.]  The  Thirteenth  Century.  19 

rousing  bitter  murmurs,  while   the  vices  of   the  clergy  were 
alienating  men's  minds  from  the  Church. 

So  corrupt  were  both  priests  and  monks,  in  fact,  that  Bishop 
Grossetete  of  Lincoln,  an  admirable  man,  in  his  "  Constitu- 
tions," had   to   forbid    those   of  his   diocese  from   "  haunting 
taverns,  gambling,  or  drinking,  and  from  rioting  or  debauchery; " 
and  Lincoln  was  only  a  sample  of  England  at  large.     Benefices 
were  given  in  hundreds  to  royal  favourites.     Boys  of  twelve 
were   thrust  by  the  Popes  on  the  wealthiest  English  livings. 
The  monks  were  steadily  absorbing  the  tithes  of  the  parishes  for 
their  abbeys  and  monasteries,  leaving  the  churches  to  be  served, 
as  might  be,  by  a  pauper  clergy,  or  by  one  of  themselves ;  and 
they  were  everywhere  buying  from  Rome  exemption  from  the 
authority  of  the  bishops.    So  long  back  as  1 1 80,  the  head  of  the 
Malmesbury  monks  had  told  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  "  Poor 
and  miserable  is  the  abbot  who  does  not  utterly  annihilate  the 
jurisdiction  of  a  bishop,  when,  for  a  single  ounce  of  gold  a  year, 
he  may  buy  full  liberty  for  himself  from  Rome."^     The  monks 
had,  moreover,  entirely  lost  their  old  influence  with  the  people 
as  the  defenders  of  popular  rights,  and  in  becoming  rich  pro- 
prietors had  become  oppressors  of  their  tenantry  and  of  the 
poor.     Every  abbey  and  rich  monastery  was  in  turn  the  centre 
of  a  continuous  struggle,  often  carried  to  the  law-courts,  and 
not  seldom  leading  to  violence ;  the  monks  striving  to  retain 
every  feudal  privilege ;  the  people  as  eagerly  contending  against 
serfdom  and  for  free  municipal  rights.  *    Nor  were  the  barons 
less  disaffected  to  Rome  and  the  Church  than  the.  common 
people,  indignantly  complaining  that  the  Church  preferments 
held  in  England  by  Italians,  either  living  in  Italy  or  intending 
to  return  thither,  amounted  to  more  than  the  revenue  of  the 
Crown,  and  that  the  oppressions  of  the  Court  of  Rome  were 
intolerable.* 

'  Angl.  Sacr.  prtef.  p.  4. 

•  See  this  admirably  sketched  in  "  English  Popular  Leaders,"  by  C.  £ 
Maurice,  vol.  ii  •  Matt.  Paris,  666. 


20  The  English  Reformation.         [ad.  1272—1307. 

Meanwhile,  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  and  the  heads  of 
the  great  abbeys,  had  their  own  good  share  in  the  plunder  of  the 
people,  till  the  evil  grew  at  last  so  enormous  that  the  statute  of 
Mortmain  was  passed  in  1279,  under  Edward  I.,  forbidding 
bequests  to  any  religious  bodies  without  the  king's  licence. 
Bishops  and  abbots  had  become  great  barons,  and  lived  in 
lordly  state,  which  was  growing  continually.  No  wonder  that  a 
man  like  Grossetete,  who  strove  to  reform  the  Church,  should 
have  died  in  feud  with  Rome.  Yet,  amidst  all  this  gloom  and 
wickedness,  the  seed  of  future  deliverance  had  been  sown,  for 
the  first  Parliament  sat  in  1265. 

If  the  long  and  troubled  reign  of  Henry  III.  had  laid  the 
foundations  of  modern  society  and  government,  the  splendid 
career  of  his  son  Edward  I.  (a.d.  1272 — 1307)  saw  these  rise 
high  enough  to  indicate  the  ultimate  results.  Baron,  com- 
moner, and  Crown  lost  on  one  hand,  to  gain  on  the  other. 
Law  became  supreme.  Liberty  was  safe  when  it  was  settled 
that  Parliament  had  control  of  the  national  purse.  The  Church, 
however,  was  unwilling  to  take  its  place  as  a  part  of  the  nation, 
and  it  required  all  Edward's  firmness  and  skill  to  force  it  to 
assent  to  the  clergy  paying  taxes  like  other  citizens,  though  the 
higher  ranks  were  so  enormously  wealthy. 

The  Romanist  doctrines  were  meanwhile  steadily  becoming 
more  gross.  It  was  now  taught  "  that  both  the  body  and  blood 
of  our  Lord,  nay,  the  whole  living  and  true  Christ,  is  given  at 
once,  imder  the  form  of  bread  (in  the  Eucharist) ;  and  that  the 
wine  given  at  the  same  time  to  drink  was  not  the  sacrament, 
but  mere  wine."^  The  cup  was  henceforth  to  be  withheld  from 
the  laity.  Confession  also  was  now  made  a  condition  of 
receiving  Communion,  and  from  this  time  became  an  essential 
of  the  Romish  system. 

Twelve  Popes  wore  the  tiara  during  the  thirty-five  years  of 
Edward  I.'s   reign,   but   all   alike   strained   the   endurance   of 

'  Spel.  Cone.  2.  320. 


A.D.  130&]  Tfi-^  Thirteenth  Century.  21 

England  by  their  insatiable  claims  and  boundless  ambition. 
Prodigious  sums  of  money  were  yearly  taken  out  of  the  country 
by  pilgrims ;  by  suitors  carrying  appeals  in  all  manner  of  dis- 
putes to  Rome ;  by  bishops  going  thither  for  consecration  and 
for  the  confirmation  of  their  elections;  by  applicants  for 
Church  preferment,  which  was  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands 
of  the  Pope,  and  must  be  bought ;  by  legates  and  nuncios, 
who,  from  time  to  time,  bore  off  vast  sums,  raised  on -various 
pretences ;  by  the  countless  Itahan  priests  who  were  thrust  on 
the  richest  benefices  of  England  ;  by  the  demand  for  "  the  first- 
fruits  "  of  all  livings ;  by  Peter's  pence ;  by  the  yearly  tribute 
laid  on  King  John  and  his  successors,  and  by  many  contri- 
vances besides. 

Nor  had  the  immeasurable  arrogance  of  the  Papacy  narrower 
bounds  than  its  greed.  Boasting  as  it  does,  to-day,  to  abate 
not  a  jot  of  any  claim  it  ever  made,  what  shall  we  think  of 
Boniface  VIIL  telling  Philip  the  Fair,  of  France,  in  a  Bull  of 
AD.  1 301,  that  "you  are  subject  to  us,  both  in  spirituals  and 
temporals.  You  have  no  right  to  bestow  benefices  and  pre- 
bends, &c.,  &c.  We  declare  them  heretics  who  believe  the 
contrary"  ?^  The  Papal  crown  till  a.d.  106 i  had  been  simply  a 
mitre ;  from  that  date  it  had  been  changed  into  a  double  crown, 
but  Clement  V.,  the  Pope  during  whose  reign  Edward  I.  died, 
added  a  third  crown,  and  thus  introduced  the  tiara,'  as  a  symbol 
that  he  held  not  only  temporal  and  spiritual  power,  but  was 
supreme  over  all  who  held  either.*  To  such  a  height  had  Papal 
assumption  risen. 

The  slow  advancement  of  mankind  was  gradually,  however, 
preparing  the  way  for  a  revolt  against  this  gloomy  despotism  of 
the  priest.  Trifles  serve  as  indications  of  much  beyond  them- 
selves. Even  in  London  there  were  as  yet,  a.d.  1300,  no  chim- 
neys, but  only  braziers  in  the  rooms,  and  the  carriage  had  not  as 

*  Du  Pin  V.  12.  5. 

*  The  tiara  was  originally  the  name  for  a  high  Persian  turban. 

*  Jacobson,  in  Herzog  xi.  92. 


22  The  English  Reformation.         [a.d.  1201— 1300, 

yet  supplemented  the  use  of  the  horse,  for  either  sex.  But  the 
mariner's  compass  was  now  known ;  paper  made  of  cotton  had 
been  invented  in  France,  and  of  linen  in  Germany ;  clocks  were 
seen  here  and  there ;  mirrors  of  glass  were  hung  in  the 
chambers  of  the  rich ;  woollen  cloth  was  being  manufactured 
in  England  ;  and  the  discovery  of  gunpowder  was  soon  to 
revolutionize  the  warfare  of  the  world.  Nor  was  the  intellect 
less  busy  in  other  directions.  The  Schoolmen  were  in  their 
glory  when  Duns  Scotus  died  in  a.d.  13 10.  Dante  died  in  13 12, 
Boccaccio  was  born  in  13 13,  and  Marco  Polo's  ever  memorable 
journeys  in  Farther  Asia  were  made  while  Edward  I.  was  the 
English  king. 

The  thirteenth  century  (a.d.  1201 — 1300)  saw  the  Church 
rise  to  its  most  extravagant  pretensions  and  sink  to  its  deepest 
corruption.  Its  worldly  splendour  was  at  its  height,  but  its 
spiritual  condition  was  appalling.  All  its  institutions  had  been 
noble  in  their  first  years,  but  success  had  ruined  them.  The 
vast  cathedrals  had  once  been  the  pride  of  the  serf  who  felt  him- 
self on  a  level  with  his  oppressors  when  within  their  walls,  and 
saw  the  sons  of  his  despised  class  set  above  barons  and  princes 
as  their  .ministers.  But  their  clergy  had  gradually  secured  in- 
dependence of  the  bishops,  and  now  transferred  their  duties  to 
vicars,  preferring  worldly  indulgence  for  themselves.  The  ap- 
pointment of  titular  bishops  had,  in  the  same  way,  enabled  the 
wealthier  prelates  to  find  substitutes,  and  few  of  them  any  longer 
troubled  themselves  about  their  sees,  further  than  to  draw  the 
revenues. 

The  independent  episcopal  courts,  in  their  early  history, 
had  been  a  bulwark  to  the  weak  and  oppressed  in  rough  and 
lawless  ages,  against  civil  misrule  and  injustice.  To  the  Church 
Europe  had  owed  the  Truce  of  God,  which  sought,  though 
vainly,  to  establish  a  cessation  of  private  or  national  wars,  then 
universal,  for  three  days  a  week  ;  it  had  aided  emancipation  of 
the  slave  in  many  ways  in  earlier  times ;  the  legislation  of  its 
courts  against  piracy,  wrecking,  incendiarism,  usury,  false  coin- 


A.D.  I20I— 1300.]  J^h^  Thirteenth  Century.  23 

age,  tournaments,  trial  by  ordeal,  and  much  else,  was  of  benefit 
to  the  nation  and  to  morality.  But  erelong  its  claims  became 
so  excessive,  and  its  tribunals  so  venal,  that  they  lost  all  credit, 
and  became  a  public  scandal  and  oppression.^ 

The  efforts  to  enforce  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  which  had 
been  made  unceasingly  since  Dunstan's  day,  through  more  than 
three  hundred  years,  had  only  resulted  in  widespread  immorality. 
The  constitutions  of  Edmund,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in 
the  year  1236,  accuse  the  bishops  of  winking,  for  payment,  at 
the  priests  having  wives  or  concubines.  The  Church  laws 
against  married  or  immoral  clergy  could  not  be  carried  out  from 
the  number  of  the  offenders.  Thus,  though  it  was  required 
that  "  they  should  be  removed  from  their  priestly  office,"  the 
gloss  of  a  contemporary  official  frankly  confesses  that  "it  is  the 
common  idea  that  nobody  ought  to  be  removed  for  simple  forni- 
cation, since  few  can  be  found  innocent."  The  immorality 
bred  by  an  enforced  celibacy,  the  worldliness  of  the  clergy,  their 
avarice  and  notorious  simony,  were  by  turns  rebuked  with 
solemn  earnestness  by  the  few  faithful  men  left  in  the  Church, 
or  upbraided  with  biting  sarcasm  by  the  wits  of  the  age. 
Ecclesiastics,  high  and  low,  had,  in  fact,  well-nigh  lost  the 
respect  of  the  laity.  "  You  are  a  worthy  man  though  you  be  a 
priest,"  says  a  female  speaker  in  one  of  the  poems  of  the  times. 
Nothing  could  be  more  bitter  than  the  language  in  which  eccle- 
siastical persons  as  a  class  are  described  by  the  writers  of  the 
day. 

The  enormous  wealth  of  the  Church  had,  in  great  measure, 
led  to  this  state  of  things.  The  laity  had  gradually  submitted 
to  the  demand  for  tithes;  wills  of  all  kinds,  and  all  suits 
respecting  them,  were  ecclesiastical  matters ;  dispensations  for 
marriage  were  needed,  at  heavy  cost,  on  every  hand ;  posses- 
sion of  ready  money  facilitated  purchases  of  land  often  at  a 

*  For  this  and  the  following  paragraphs  see  the  extracts  from  contem- 
porary authoritii.8  in  Gieseler,  vol.  iiu  191 — ^3oa 


24  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1226. 

nominal  value  ;  the  safety  of  property  held  by  the  Church  led 
many  to  make  over  their  possessions  to  it  and  rent  them 
again  from  it,  and  a  thriving  trade  in  mortgages  added  to  the 
whole. 

The  monks  also  had  gradually  become  as  corrupt  as  the  rest. 
There  was  no  end  of  Orders — Carthusians,  Cistercians,  Car- 
melites, Benedictines,  and  a  host  besides.  Exemption  from  epis- 
copal authority  and  growth  in  wealth  had  done  their  work.  The 
abbots  obtained,  in  many  cases,  episcopal  privileges,  and  in 
many  others  forged  the  right  to  them.  Many  parishes  were 
united  to  monasteries  to  escape  the  oversight  of  the  bishops. 
There  were  convents  for  both  sexes  under  the  same  roof,  and 
men  like  Bernard  in  the  century  before,  denounced  the  pride  and 
luxury  of  abbots  and  monks  alike.  Bernard  had,  indeed,  founded 
a  stricter  rule  among  the  Cistercians,  which,  for  a  time,  gave 
them  great  popularity,  but  they,  too,  after  a  while,  became  as 
corrupt  as  others. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  mendicant  orders 
were  founded,  to  try  if  the  laity,  scandalized  by  the  corruption 
of  the  monks  and  clergy,  could  not  be  won  back  to  the  Church. 
The  Waldenses  had  set  the  example  of  devoted  consecration  to 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  had  greatly  attracted  the 
people,  and  from  them  the  idea  of  the  orders  of  Friars,  or 
Brethren,  was  taken.  From  the  year  1207  Francis  of  Assisi  had 
first  begun  to  gather  round  him  a  society  which  should  repro- 
duce Apostolic  Hfe  and  labour,  in  strict  obedience  to  Rome ; 
and  such  had  been  the  effect  of  his  saintly  life,  disinterested 
love,  transparent  sincerity,  and  simple  preaching,  in  an  age  of 
hypocrisy  and  vice,  that  before  his  death,  in  1226,  many  thou- 
sands had  joined  his  order.  "  The  Lord  added,  not  so  much  a 
new  Order,"  says  a  contemporary  (in  the  foundation  of  the 
"  Begging  Friars  "),  "  as  renewed  the  old,  raised  the  fallen,  and 
revived  religion,  now  almost  dead,  in  the  evening  of  the  world, 
hastening  to  its  end,  in  the  near  time  of  the  Son  of  Perdition ; 
that  He  might  prepare  new  athletes  against  the  dangerous  times 


A.D.  1221.]  The  Thirteenth  Century.  25 

of  Antichrist,  and  might  protect  the  Church  by  fortifying  it 
beforehand.  The  Lord  Pope  confirmed  their  Rule,  and  gave 
them  authority  to  preacli  in  any  churches,  the  bishop  of  the 
diocese  permitting.  They  are  sent  two  by  two  to  preach,  as 
before  the  face  of  the  Lord  and  before  His  second  Advent. 
These  paupers  of  Christ  carry  neither  purse,  nor  scrip,  nor 
bread,  and  have  no  shoes  on  their  feet,  for  no  brother  of  this 
order  can  own  anything.  They  have  no  monasteries  or 
churches,  no  fields,  or  vines,  or  beasts,  or  houses,  or  lands,  or 
even  where  they  may  lay  their  head.  They  do  not  wear  furs  or 
linen,  but  only  woollen  gowns  with  a  hood  :  no  head  coverings, 
or  cloaks,  or  mantles,  or  any  other  garments  have  they.  If  any 
one  invite  them,  they  eat  and  drink  what  is  set  before  them. 
If  any  one,  in  charity,  give  them  anything,  they  keep  nothing  of 
it  to  the  morrow.  Yet  not  by  preaching  only,  but  also  by  the 
example  of  a  holy  life  and  blameless  conversation  do  they 
attract  many,  not  of  the  poor  alone,  but  of  the  rich  and  noble, 
to  despise  the  world,  forsaking  their  towns,  and  houses,  and 
great  possessions,  and  giving  up  earthly  wealth,  by  a  happy 
exchange,  for  spiritual, — to  put  on  the  habit  of  the  '  lesser 
brethren' — a  tunic  of  no  value — and  to  gird  themselves  with 
their  cord.  For,  in  a  short  time,  they  have  so  increased  that 
there  is  no  Christian  land  in  which  some  are  not  found,  for 
they  let  all  join  them,  if  unmarried,  and  not  already  under 
a  vow.  All  but  these  they  welcome,  committing  them- 
selves to  the  providence  and  love  of  God,  and  not  fearing  for 
support."  ^ 

Beginning  with  professions  so  noble  and,  at  first,  so  sincere, 
it  was  found  desirable,  in  121 2,  to  found  a  Franciscan  sisterhood 
as  well,  and  to  this  was  added,  in  i22i,a  third  order — the 
Tertiaries — of  both  sexes,  who  were  not  required  to  take  the 
vows  of  the  order,  or  to  live  apart,  but  were  rather  Associates, 
carr}'ing  out,  as  far  as  might  be,  the  spirit  of  the  Order,  without 

*  Jacobus  de  Viliaco,  Histor.  Occid,  c  32. 


26  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1256. 

leaving  their  ordinary  callings  or  their  place  in  life.  The  Order 
of  Dominican  Friars,  founded  at  first  for  the  conversion  of  the 
Albigenses  (1205) — who  were  soon,  however,  to  be  given  over 
to  pitiless  massacre,  when  found  obstinate — grew,  also,  apace. 
A  generation  later  came  the  Carmelite  Friars  (1245)  and  the 
Augustines  (1256);  and  all  these,  like  the  Franciscans,  had 
their  sisterhoods  and  their  countless  Associates,  or  Tertiaries,  of 
both  sexes. 

The  Friars  were,  in  fact,  the  Methodists  or  Revivalists  of  six 
hundred  years  ago ;  but  it  would  have  been  well  for  them  if 
they  had  been  as  permanently  faithful  to  their  mission  as 
Wesley's  great  communion.  The  people  flocked  everywhere  to 
their  preaching.  It  was  like  a  new  Gospel.  Seeing  their  power 
to  work  on  the  masses,  the  Pope  soon  granted  them  privileges, 
which  speedily  corrupted  them.  Bishops  were  ordered  to 
secure  them  a  hearty  reception,  to  urge  all  to  come  to  their 
preaching,  and  personally  to  help  them  in  every  way  ;  nor  were 
they  to  be  hindered  from  confessing  those  who  attended  their 
services.  They  were  to  be  independent  of  episcopal  supervision, 
and  had  the  right  to  bury  any  who  desired  it  in  their  churches 
and  enclosures.  The  door  was  thus  opened  for  their  gaining 
wealth,  and  wealth  brought  spiritual  ruin. 

Meanwhile,  they  streamed  into  England — hailed  by  the 
people — hated  and  feared,  in  anticipation,  by  the  clergy  and 
monks.  Foreigners,  they  had  to  beg  their  way,  with  only  their 
rags  and  their  mission  to  recommend  them.  But  they  soon 
learned  English  enough  to  begin  their  vocation  actively,  and, 
ere  long,  every  parish  priest  found  them  unwelcome  intruders 
on  his  bounds,  for  they  set  up  their  movable  pulpit  at  any  cross, 
without  consulting  him,  and  carried  the  multitude  away  by  their 
enthusiasm  and  the  novelty  and  nobility  of  their  principles  and 
mission.  Self-sacrificing  love,  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  was  the 
sum  of  their  lives,  and  the  only  reward  they  asked,  food  and 
shelter.  For  a  time  they  kept  nobly  true  to  the  spirit  of  their 
rule.     The  towns  of  the  middle  ages  were  wretched  in  the 


A.D.  1230.1  The  Thirteenth  Century.  2J 

extreme  ;  *  fever  and  pestilence  were  permanently  established  in 
them,  as  in  modem  cities  of  the  East ;  leprosy  had  its  special 
houses,  and  little  care  was  taken  of  the  wretched  inmates.  But 
the  Gray  Brethren  at  once  betook  themselves  to  the  most 
miserable  quarters  of  the  boroughs,  and  to  the  foul  leper- 
houses,  to  alleviate  suffering,  and,  if  possible,  remove  it.  Bare- 
footed by  day,  they  lay  without  a  pillow  by  night.  Their  houses 
were  as  mean  as  the  wretched  hovels  around  them.  True  work, 
honestly  done,  had  its  ample  reward  in  enthusiastic  admiration. 

Their  preaching,  ready,  fluent,  and  familiar,  was  no  less  a 
wonder.  The  ignorant  mass-priest,  who  depended  on  his  fees, 
had  been  almost  the  only  ecclesiastic  with  whom  the  towns- 
people had  hitherto  come  in  contact.  The  services  of  the 
Church  were  in  an  unknown  language,  the  ritual  was  unmean- 
ing, and  the  pictures  or  statues  on  the  church  walls  needed  an 
explanation  which  they  did  not  receive.  In  contrast  with  this 
the  friar  addressed  the  crowd  with  fervid  appeals,  rough  wit,  or 
telling  anecdote,  as  best  suited  the  moment,  with  no  attempt  at 
studied  harangues.  It  was  a  religious  revolution,  and  gave  the 
Church  another  lease  of  popular  favour. 

But  they  did  not  long  confine  themselves  to  preaching,  or 
tending  the  sick  ;  they  soon  aimed  also  at  higher  flights.  The 
Universities  were  in  their  first  glory :  humble  enough  compared 
with  their  state  to-day,  but  immensely  popular.  Thirty  thousand 
students  are  said  to  have  attended  Oxford  at  one  time.  The 
revival  of  mental  activity,  however,  was  dangerous,  and  the 
friars  resolved  to  check  or  at  least  direct  it.  Their  care  of  the 
sick  had  soon  drawn  them  to  study  the  physical  sciences,  and 
their  preaching  led  them  to  study  theology,  In  1230  the 
Dominicans  had  already  gained  a  theological  professorship  in 
the  University  of  Paris,  and  the  Franciscans  soon  after  secured 
another.    The  schools  of  both,  at  both  the  English  Universities, 

'  See  Erasmus'  account  of  an  English  house  even  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury.  He  used  to  leave  Paris  every  summer  for  the  plague. — Druromond's 
Iplrasmus,  i.  386. 


28  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  U78. 

became  famous.  Theology  resumed  its  old  supremacy,  and  for 
a  time  such  men  as  Roger  Bacon,  Duns  Scotus,  and  Ockham, 
gave  a  true  glory  to  the  new  Orders. 

But  the  corruption  of  the  rest  of  the  Church  erelong  invaded 
the  ranks  of  the  Brethren,  and  speedily  brought  them  to  its 
miserable  level.  Even  so  early  as  1243,  Matthew  Paris  writes 
of  them — "  It  is  only  twenty-four  years  since  they  built  their 
first  houses  in  England,  and  now  they  raise  buildings  like 
palaces,  and  show  their  boundless  wealth  by  making  them  daily 
more  sumptuous,  with  great  rooms  and  lofty  ceilings,  impudently 
transgressing  the  vows  of  poverty  which  are  the  very  basis  of 
their  order.  If  a  great  or  rich  man  is  like  to  die,  they  take  care 
to  crowd  in,  to  the  injury  and  slight  of  the  clergy,  that  they  may 
hunt  up  money,  extort  confessions,  and  make  secret  wills,  always 
seeking  the  good  of  their  order,  as  their  one  end.  They  have 
got  it  believed  that  no  one  can  hope  to  be  saved  if  he  do  not 
follow  the  Dominicans  or  Franciscans.  They  are  restless  in 
trying  to  get  privileges ;  to  get  the  ear  of  kings  and  princes ;  to 
be  chamberlains,  treasurers,  bridesmen,  and  match-makers,  and 
agents  of  Papal  extortions.  In  their  preaching  they  either 
flatter  or  abuse  without  bounds,  or  reveal  confessions,  or  gabble 
nonsense."  The  monks  and  the  clergy  soon  came  to  regard 
them  as  their  natural  enemies,  and  the  peace  of  the  towns  was 
often  disturbed  by  riots  caused  by  their  mutual  hatreds.^  "  They 
have  begun,"  says  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  in  1278,  "to  stir 
up  the  authorities  and  the  people  of  Lubeck,  and  have  expelled 
the  bishop  and  his  clergy  from  their  own  town.     Having  done 

*  See  a  curious  case  at  Lubeck,  in  1280,  in  Studien  und  Kritiken  for  1828. 
The  occasion  of  it  was  that  a  rich  widow  had  ordered  in  her  will  that  she 
should  be  buried  in  the  Convent  of  the  Franciscans.  The  clergy,  how- 
ever, kept  the  corpse  and  buried  it  in  the  parish  church.  The  Franciscans 
and  the  relations  of  the  deceased,  on  that,  came  and  took  away  the  body  by 
force.  Hereupon,  the  bishop  and  clergy,  with  the  townsfolk  and  the  Do- 
minicans, assailed  the  Francitcans,  and  thus  a  riot  was  kindled  which  in  the 
end  forced  the  bishop  and  his  chapter  to  retire  to  another  town,  for  the  time. 


AD.  1257.]  The  Thirteenth  Century.  29 

this,  they  have  taken  their  places,  officiating  in  the  different 
churches  and  parishes,  in  contempt  of  the  bishop's  prohibition, 
preaching,  hearing  confessions,  making  collections,  adminis- 
tering the  sacraments,  ignoring  the  commands  of  the  ordinary, 
and  leading  the  people  to  cry  out,  *  Heretic !  heretic ! '  against 
the  clergy,  in  every  street."  Even  Bonaventura,  the  general  of 
the  Franciscans  (1257),  in  a  circular  to  the  heads  of  the  order, 
inveighs  against  the  greed,  the  self-indulgence,  the  importunate 
begging,  the  love  of  grand  houses,  the  keenness  to  get  wills 
made  in  their  favour,  and  to  secure  burials  of  the  rich  in  their 
enclosures,  to  the  great  annoyance  and  injury  of  the  clergy, 
and  especially  of  the  parish  priests.  "  We  are  become  burden- 
some to  all  men,"  he  adds,  in  conclusion,  "  and  will  be  more  and 
more  so,  if  a  remedy  be  not  found  quickly." 

The  degenerate  Orders  had,  in  fact,  early  sought  to  perpetuate 
and  increase  the  charity  of  the  people  by  the  most  unworthy 
means.  Pious  frauds  were  invented,  to  intensify  popular  super- 
stition. So  widely,  indeed,  did  imposture  spread,  that  the 
general  of  the  Carmelites  denounced  his  brethren  as  "  hardened 
vagabonds,  liars,  praters,  useless  counsellors,  worthless  preachers, 
citizens  of  Sodom,  despisers  of  their  rule,  and  seducers."^ 
Among  other  fables  they  asserted  that  Elijah  was  their  founder, 
and  the  Holy  Virgin  a  Carmelite  nun,  and  in  common  with  all 
the  other  begging  Orders,  guaranteed  salvation  to  all  their 
members,  even  if  they  took  the  cowl  only  on  their  death-bed. 
Here  and  there,  saintly  natures,  or  even  great  intellects,  might 
still  claim  homage,  among  the  "  Brethren,"  but  the  thousands 
of  rank  and  file  had  sunk  to  the  lowest  moral  degrada- 
tion. 

The  degeneracy  of  friars,  monks  and  priests  alike,  was, 
indeed,  only  the  inevitable  result  of  the  profound  corruption  at 
the  centre  of  the  Church.     Italy  was,  itself,  the  foulest  country 

'  The  documents  I  have  translated  may  be  found  in  Gieseler,  as  above. 
There  is  a  fine  story  of  a  saintly  friar  in  the  Memoirs  of  St.  Louis  (1215 — 
1270). 


30  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1377. 

in  Christendom,  and  the  Papacy  the  centre  and  darkest  spot  in 
that  foulness.  Dante/  himself  a  Roman  CathoHc,  has  left  us 
a  picture  of  it  that  needs  no  touching.  He  describes  the  Popes 
of  the  day  as  men 

Whose  avarice 
O'ercasts  the  world  with  mourning,  under  foot 
Treading  the  good,  and  raising  bad  men  up: 
Of  Shepherds  like  to  you,  the  Evangelist 
Was  ware,  when  her  who  sits  upon  the  waves, 
With  kings  in  filthy  whoredom  he  beheld  1 
Of  gold  and  silver  ye  have  made  your  god 
Differing  wherein  from  an  idolater 
But  that  he  worships  one,  a  hundred  ye  ?  . 

He  places  four  Popes  of  his  own  day — Nicholas  III.,  Celestine 
v.,  Boniface  VIH.,  and  Clement  V. — in  hell,  and  makes  the 
first  say — 

Under  my  head  are  dragged 
The  rest,  my  predecessors  in  the  guilt 
Of  simony.     Stretched  at  their  length  they  lie. 

Nor  were  things  better  in  Avignon  while  the  Popes  reigned 
there,*  for  Petrarch'  describes  the  Papacy  then  as  sitting  "  as  a 
whore  over  peoples,  and  nations,  and  tongues,  toying  and  con- 
fident in  the  abundance  of  earthly  riches,  and  careless  of  the 
eternal." 

Rome,  itself,  he  paints  thus  ; — 

Once  Rome !  now,  false  and  guilty  Babylon  1 

Piye  of  deceits  I     Terrible  prison 

Where  the  good  doth  die,  the  bad  is  fed  and  fattened  ! 

Hell  of  the  living  ! 

Sad  world  that  doth  endure  it  !     Cast  her  out  I 


*  Bom  1265,  died  1321.  ''■  1305 — 1377. 

»  Bom  1304,  died  1374. 


CHAPTER  III. 

JOHN    WYCLIFFE. 

IT  was  inevitable  that  with  the  progress  of  the  nation  in  other 
matters  there  should  be  a  reaction  against  the  universal  cor- 
ruption of  the  Church.  England  had  now  a  Parliament,  and  the 
power  of  the  purse  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Commons.  Great 
reforms  had  been  made  by  Edward  I.  Laws  had  been  passed 
to  secure  the  public  peace ;  to  provide  for  the  recovery  of 
debts,  and  to  check  the  alienation  of  lands  to  the  Church,  Towns 
had  secured  many  of  their  liberties.  They  had  their  commercial 
guilds  in  all  trades.  Everywhere,  the  people  were  rising  into 
importance. 

By  the  third  quarter  of  the  fourteenth  century  things  had 
come  to  look  ominous  for  the  Church.  The  long  reign  of 
Edward  III.  (1327 — 1377)  was  drawing  to  a  close  disastrously. 
The  cruel,  frivolous,  unreal  splendour  he  had  maintained  had 
shown  its  hoUowness  on  every  side.  A  king  who  amidst  all 
this  halo  of  mock  greatness  tricked  his  Parliament,  cheated  his 
creditors,  and  ruined  the  merchants  of  England  by  using  his 
position  to  command  the  markets  as  a  rival  trader,  a  king  whose 
taxes  for  foreign  wars,  distasteful  to  his  people,  were  oppressive, 
while  the  burdens  for  the  maintenance  of  his  table  were  even  more 
so,  could  not  permanently  hide  himself  in  the  show  of  a  false  glory. 
Pestilences  unequalled  before  or  since  had  wasted  England  in 
his  reign,  and  had  so  raised  the  price  of  labour  as  to  force 


3 


32  TJie  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1374. 

into  prominence  the  old  struggle  between  the  labourer  and  the 
serf  on  the  one  hand  and  the  privileged  classes  on  the  other. 
Even  the  bishops,  as  great  employers,  had  at  last,  Hke  the  monks 
already,  sided  against  workmen  and  the  peasants,  and  oppressive 
Acts  of  Parliament  had  aggravated  the  social  war.  Edward 
was  now  in  his  dotage  and  wholly  under  the  influence  of  a 
worthless  mistress.  The  Black  Prince  was  sinking  under  con- 
sumption. The  people  were  tired  of  the  endless  French  wars 
which  had  resulted  only  in  the  loss  of  nearly  all  that  had  at  any 
time  been  gained.  The  lords  and  knights  had  been  well-nigh 
ruined  by  the  cost  of  tournaments  and  of  wars,  and  by  the 
rise  of  the  labour-market  and  the  bearing  of  the  peasants.  Trade 
was  well-nigh  destroyed,  for  the  English  fleet  had  been  almost 
swept  from  the  sea. 

In  these  circumstances  a  large  party  among  the  barons 
turned  their  eyes  on  the  ecclesiastical  wealth  around  them, 
which  bore  as  little  as  it  could  of  the  burdens  of  the  land. 
Between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand  ecclesiastics  of  all  kinds 
lived  on  the  earnings  of  a  population  of  three  or  four  millions — 
that  is,  of  London  alone  in  our  time — and  were  believed  to 
hold  more  than  a  third  of  England  as  their  property,  while 
their  revenue  from  tithes,  fees,  and  offerings  was  said  to  be 
double  that  of  the  crown.  Their  education,  in  an  ignorant  age, 
had  also  secured  for  their  dignitaries  the  highest  offices  of  the 
State,  and  this  the  barons,  now  better  fitted  for  statesmanship  than 
of  old,  could  not  endure.  The  prelates  were  thrust  from  power, 
and  laymen,  under  the  leadership  of  a  son  of  King  Edward, 
John  of  Gaunt,  himself  the  greatest  of  the  barons,  through  his 
wife,  took  their  place.  But  the  new  government  proved  utterly 
corrupt,  and  Parliament  showed  its  rising  importance  by  calling 
it  to  account.  In  vain  Gaunt  tried  to  overcome  it,  for  the  Black 
Prince,  now  rapidly  dying,  supported  it,  in  the  interests  of  his 
son,  and  the  prelates  joined  him,  to  protect  the  Church  from 
spoliation,  so  that  he  could  not  prevent  an  investigation  of  the 
public  grievances.    The  worst  offenders  in  Gaunt 's  council  were 


A.D.t324.]  John   Wycliffe.  33 

banished  or  imprisoned,  but  the  death  of  the  Black  Prince 
overthrew  the  new  government,  and  Gaunt  once  more  resumed 
the  helm,  furious  at  the  audacity  of  the  Commons  in  interfering 
with  great  affairs,  and  determined  to  abate  the  pride,  and  share 
the  wealth,  of  the  Churchmen  who  had  aided  them  to  thwart  him. 
The  new  bishops  and  lords  in  the  Council  were  dismissed,  Alice 
Ferrers,  the  worthless  mistress  of  Edward,  and,  with  her,  the  im- 
prisoned lords,  recalled,  the  Acts  of  the  late  Parliament  cancelled, 
its  speaker  put  in  prison  and  the  possessions  of  William  of 
Wykeham,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  the  leader  of  the  prelates 
against  him,  confiscated.  Hard,  tyrannical,  ambitious,  and  worth- 
less, law  and  right  were  rudely  thrust  aside  to  gain  his  ends. 

At  this  point,  strangely  enough,  a  character  of  almost  un- 
matched moral  and  intellectual  greatness,  destined  to  pave  the 
way  for  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  thrown  for 
the  time  into  connection  with  this  violent  and  unprincipled  man. 

John  Wycliffe,  the  future  Reformer,  was  now  a  man  of  over 
fifty,  for  he  had  been  bom  about  1324,  near  Richmond,  in 
Yorkshire.  He  had,  some  time  before,  been  appointed  Master 
of  Balliol  College,  at  Oxford,  and  was  the  foremost  living  repre- 
sentative of  the  great  schoolmen  of  the  past.  Bonaventura  and 
Thomas  Aquinas  had  died  fifty  years  before  his  birth  ;^  Albertus 
Magnus  had  been  laid  to  rest  six  years  later,  to  trouble  himself 
no  more  with  the  twenty  folios  he  had  given  to  the  world  ;  Duns 
Scotus  had  passed  away  only  sixteen  years  before  his  birth,  and 
Bradwardine  and  Occam,  their  English  successors,  had  been  his 
masters,  for  he  was  a  young  man  of  about  five-and-twenty  when 
they  died.  Both  had  powerfully  influenced  their  illustrious 
scholar.  From  the  former  he  drew  what  at  a  later  day  would 
have  been  called  his  Calvinism,  and  the  latter  gave  him  the 
future  central  principle  of  his  teaching,  by  grounding  the 
defence  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  solely  on  Scripture,  and 
thus,  in  effect,  challenging  the  whole  Papal  theory. 

'  Both  died  in  1274. 


34  The  Efiglish  Reformation.  [a-d.  136s 

The  audacious  claims  of  the  Popes,  now  at  Avignon,  had 
roused  a  fierce  spirit  of  resistance,  not  only  in  the  people  at 
large  but  even  in  the  clergy  and  bishops.  In  the  midst  of  all 
•the  social  troubles  from  pestilence,  from  the  cost  of  war,  and 
from  the  strife  between  employer  and  employed,  the  demands 
for  money  for  the  Avignon  Court  rose  ever  higher,  and  both 
king  and  Parliament  had  protested  fiercely  against  them. 
Shortly  before  Crecy  Edward  had  even  ventured  to  prohibit  the 
entrance  into  England  of  any  bulls  interfering  with  the  rights  of 
private  patrons  of  Church  livings,  and  the  Statute  of  Provisors 
had  been  passed  in  135 1  threatenmg  with  imprisonment  any 
one  who  by  accepting  a  Papal  nomination  to  a  benefice  assailed 
the  rights  of  the  English  Church.  But  this  had  been  met  by 
the  patrons  who  opposed  a  nominee  of  the  Pope,  being  summoned 
before  the  Pope's  courts  to  answer  for  doing  so.  A  counter- 
blow to  such  audacity,  the  famous  Act  of  Premunire,  was  passed 
in  1353  prohibiting  appeals  to  any  foreign  court  against  judg- 
ments of  the  Courts  of  England,  or  the  recognition  of  any 
authority  but  that  of  the  King  and  the  Estates,  under  penalty  of 
outlawry,  perpetual  imprisonment,  or  banishment  from  the 
country.  Even  this,  however,  was  not  enough,  for  England  was 
too  rich  a  mine  to  be  readily  given  up,  and  the  statutes  against 
appeals  and  provisors  had  to  be  once  more  enacted  twelve  years 
later. 

But  Urban  V.,  the  reigning  Pope,  was  little  disposed  to  brook 
defeat,  and  met  this  action  of  England  by  a  demand  in  1365  for 
thirty-three  years'  arrears  of  tribute  promised  by  King  John  in 
acknowledgment  of  the  over-lordship  of  the  Court  of  Rome 
over  the  realm.  Laid  before  Parliament  this  demand  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis,  for  such  an  answer  was  returned  that  the 
Pope's  lordship  over  England  has  never  since  been  heard  of. 

It  was  amidst  this  strife  that  Wycliffe  first  came  prominently 
into  notice,  for  the  thin  retired  student  was  also  a  man  of  dauntless 
spirit,  indomitable  energy,  jealous  of  the  liberties  of  his  country, 
and  already  indignant  at  the  corruptions  of  the  Church.   Launch- 


A.D.I366.]  John  Wycliffe.  3$ 

ing  with  his  whole  soul  into  the  controversy,  he  composed  a 
treatise  "  On  Dominion  "  which  went  to  the  root  of  the  matter, 
and  advanced  principles  of  so  much  wider  application  than  to 
the  Papal  demands  alone,  as  to  rouse  against  him  the  anger  of 
the  hierarchy,  as  a  man  dangerous  to  the  interests  of  their  order. 

All  power,  he  boldly  maintained,  was  of  God,  who  gave  it  to 
no  one  man  exclusively — ^be  he  pope  or  emperor — but  to  all  who 
exercised  authority  of  any  kind,  He  Himself  being  the  final 
appeal  from  all  alike.  From  Him,  also,  the  individual  soul 
held  its  powers  directly,  and  to  Him  alone  it  was,  immediately, 
responsible.  The  State,  likewise,  was  an  ordinance  of  God,  as 
well  as  the  Church,  and  as  such  was  also  sacred,  and  might 
rightfully  demand  support  from  ecclesiastical  wealth  for  urgent 
national  wants.  The  worldliness  of  the  clergy  had,  in  fact,  led 
him  to  the  same  attitude  towards  the  great  prelates  and  abbots 
as  the  feudal  party  had  already  taken,  from  a  desire  to  make  them 
share  the  burdens  of  the  State  more  equally.  Himself  simple  and 
primitive,  he  urged  that  they  should  voluntarily  surrendertheir  cor- 
rupting riches  and  return  to  the  poverty  of  the  first  Christian  age. 

Such  views  were  reiterated  a  few  years  later  in  the  interest  of 
the  country,  when  the  unhappy  turn  of  the  French  war  demanded 
new  taxes.  With  an  empty  treasury,  and  an  exhausted  popu- 
lation, Parliament  resolved  to  tax  Church  property  ;  and  though 
the  hierarchy  stoutly  resisted,  all  lands  got  by  mortmain  since 
1 292  were  made  subject  to  ground-tax,  a  result  which  drew  on 
Wycliffe  a  still  deadlier  enmity  from  his  dignified  brethren,  as  the 
champion  of  a  policy  so  injurious  to  the  interests  of  Churchmen. 

In  1366,  through  such  energetic  action,  we  find  him  sum- 
moned to  Parliament  as  a  member  by  the  king,  so  that  from 
this  time  he  was  in  the  fullest  sense  a  public  man,  identified,  in 
his  views  respecting  Church  property,  and  the  substitution  of 
laymen  for  prelates  in  the  great  offices  of  State,  with  the 
party  headed  by  John  of  Gaunt,  as  leader  of  the  baronage, 
though  influenced  by  very  different  motives  from  those  of  that 
violent  and  unprincipled  man. 


36  The  English  Reformation.        [a-d.  1361— 1399. 

Appointed  Master  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  in  1361,  when  a 
man  of  from  thirty-seven  to  forty,  he  had  been  presented  by  the 
college,  in  the  same  year,  to  a  living  in  Lincolnshire,  and  had 
been  living  there,  though  retaining  a  room  in  the  university, 
during  these  stormy  disputes.  But  he  did  not  confine  himself  to 
such  ecclesiastico-political  questions  as  those  between  the  Pope 
or  the  bishops  and  government.  The  gross  corruption  of  the 
Begging  Friars  drew  him  into  a  warfare  against  them,  which 
ended  only  with  his  life.  They  had  been  settled  in  Oxford  for 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  when  he  became  one  of  its 
dignitaries,  and  though  much  esteemed  in  their  earlier  history, 
had  gradually  sunk  inlo  the  worst  repute.  It  was  asserted  that, 
thanks  to  them,  the  students,  in  less  than  a  generation,  had  been 
reduced  from  thirty  to  five  thousand.  Even  the  Chancellor  of 
the  University  had  assailed  them  as  far  back  as  Wycliffe's 
boyhood  (1333),  and  had  carried  his  complaint  to  the 
Pope  at  Avignon,  but  nothing  had  resulted.  What  had 
been  thus  zealously  begun  Wycliffe  now  resolved  to  carry 
further. 

That  there  were  good  grounds  for  this  hostility  is  only  too 
certain  from  overwhelming  testimony.  Chaucer,  who  in  1360 
was  with  King  Edward  in  France,  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
worthlessness  of  "  The  Brethren  "  as  a  class.  No  touch  of  con- 
temptuous biting  satire  is  wanting.  He  paints  the  representative 
of  the  four  orders  as  a  roystering  man  of  the  world,  utterly  un- 
principled and  selfish,  and  with  no  religion  beyond  his  friar's 
gown.  The  author  of  Piers  Ploughman,  in  the  same  generation, 
shows  also  the  general  feeling,  that  religion  was  to  be  found  only 
in  the  lowly,  and  that  society,  but,  above  all,  the  Church  in  all  its 
ranks,  was  sold  to  sin.  In  a  succession  of  visions  he  paints  the 
vices  of  every  class,  but  of  none  so  fully  as  of  ecclesiastics.  He 
sees  Conscience  besieged  by  Sloth  at  the  head  of  a  host  of 
over  a  thousand  bishops,  and  Antichrist  welcomed  into  a  monas- 
tery with  the  ringing  of  bells.  So  hopeless  is  the  corruption  that 
he  predicts : 


A.D.I38Z.]  John  Wycliffe.  37 

•*  Then  shall  come  a  king  and  confess  you  Religious, 
And  beat  you  as  the  Bible  telleth,  for  breaking  of  your  rule, 
And  amend  solitaries,  monks  and  canons. 

And  then  shall  the  abbot  of  Abingdon,  and  all  his  issue  for  ever, 
Have  a  knock  of  a  king,  and  incurc^le  the  wound. " 

The  Creed  of  Piers  Ploughman,^  perhaps  by  another  author, 
utters  the  same  complaints.  A  poor  ignorant  man  applies,  in  it, 
to  the  friars,  as  the  most  prominent  religious  personages  of  the 
day,  to  learn  their  Greed.  But  the  Friar  Minor  bids  him  beware 
of  Carmelites,  and  launches  into  the  fiercest  denunciations 
of  their  impostures  and  vices  :  a  fat  Dominican  in  his  magnifi- 
cent monastery,  which  is  described,  declaims  bitterly  against  the 
Augustines :  an  Augustine  rails  at  the  Minorites  ;  and,  lastly,  a 
Carmelite  abuses  the  Dominicans,  but  offers  him  salvation,  with- 
out the  Creed,  for  money.  Leaving  all,  alike,  with  indignation, 
he  finds  an  honest  ploughman  in  the  field,  whom  the  poet 
paints  as  Christ  Himself,  and  telling  Him  his  troubles,  both 
learns  what  he  seeks,  and  hears  a  terrible  invective  against  all 
the  four  Orders.* 

The  same  subjects  form  a  great  part  of  the  burden  of  the 
best  poem  of  Gower,  in  the  same  age.  Its  very  title,  "  The 
Voice  of  one  Crying  "  (in  the  wilderness),  is  significant.  Christ 
was  poor,  the  clergy  heap  up  wealth;  He  proclaimed  peace, 
they  stir  up  wars ;  He  gave  freely,  they  are  like  locked  boxes  ; 
He  spent  his  life  in  toil,  they  live  at  ease ;  He  was  humble, 

^  A  prose  composition,  called  "  The  Complaint  of  the  I'loughman," 
given  by  Foxe,  ii.  728  ff.,  from  Tyndale's  reprint  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  is  also  apparently  of  this  age.  It  anticipates  all  the  demands  of 
after-ages  for  Church  reform. 

*  I,  Dominicans,  friars  preachers,  or  Black  Friars  ;  2,  Franciscans,  or  Grey 
Friars  ;  3,  Carmelites,  or  White  Friars  ;  and  4,  Augustin  or  Austin  Friars. 
By  a  strange  irony  the  black  gown  of  the  Dominicans  is  now  the  favourite 
robe  of  our  evangelical  clergy  and  of  the  nonconformists  I  How  much 
less  Popish  the  white  surplice  of  the  Primitive  Church,  in  its  palmy  early 
times  before  Popery  had  begun ! 


38  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1374. 

they  swell  with  pride  ;  He  was  pitiful,  they  full  of  vengeance ; 
He  was  chaste,  they  were,  as  a  rule,  the  reverse  ;  He  was  the 
Good  Shepherd,  they  devour  the  sheep.  The  friar  does  not 
obey  God's  rule,  and  his  own  rule  is  that  of  the  devil. 

Thus,  in  the  midst  of  a  social  strife,  which  came  to  a  head 
in  the  Peasant  Revolt  under  Ball  and  Tyler ;  in  the  sight  of  the 
horrors  of  times  when  the  Black  Death  destroyed  one  half  of 
the  population,  the  poets  who  spoke  for  the  masses  were  at  one 
with  Wycliffe,  that  whatever  needed  to  be  reformed  in  the  land, 
a  new  state  of  things  was  urgently  demanded  in  the  ecclesi- 
astical world,  and,  above  all,  among  the  four  Orders.  That 
there  were  good  men  among  them,  here  and  there,  cannot  be 
doubted,  but  they  must  have  been  utterly  degraded  as  a  class  to 
have  incurred  such  universal  denunciation. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  Wycliffe  was  unsparing  in  their  con- 
demnation. He  charged  them  with  selling  their  prayers  and 
merits ;  with  granting  indulgences  to  sin ;  with  being  full  of 
fraud  and  malice ;  with  begging  from  the  poor  while  themselves 
roUing  in  wealth ;  with  preferring  their  traditions  before  Christ's 
commandments ;  with  being  arrant  hypocrites  ;  with  living  in 
baronial  splendour ;  with  persecuting  honest  parish  priests  ;  with 
cozening  the  people  by  making  light  of  sin,  for  money ;  with 
stirring  up  strife,  and  much  else  !  Had  they  not  been  amenable 
to  such  a  terrible  indictment  it  could  not  have  been  made,  for 
all  men  would  have  felt  the  injustice.  But  though  Wycliffe  thus 
assailed  them  he  was  not  called  to  account  for  doing  so. 

In  1374  his  public  position  and  high  standing  made  him  be 
nominated  a  member  of  an  Embassy  to  the  Netherlands  to 
meet  representatives  of  the  Pope  in  connection  with  the  vexed 
subject  of  Provisors,  and  he  had  his  reward  in  his  presentation 
by  the  Crown  the  same  year  to  the  rectory  of  Lutterworth,  in 
Leicestershire,  which  he  held  till  his  death,  ten  years  later, 
though  he  still  retained  his  public  connection  with  Oxford. 
But  the  hatred  he  had  drawn  on  himself  by  his  alliance  with 
John  of  Gavmt  was  a  crime  not  to  be  forgiven,  and  his  opinions 


A.D.  1374-i'tBi.i  John  Wycliffe.  39 

on  the  poverty  becoming  the  clergy  were  themselves  a  surpass- 
ing offence.  A  charge  of  heresy  was  therefore  raised  against 
him,  and  he  was  cited  to  appear  before  the  Bishop  of  London, 
but  as  he  came  accompanied  by  John  of  Gaunt  himself, 
nothing  could  be  done  against  him,  and  the  bishop's  court 
broke  up  in  disorder,  though  the  prelates  had  at  least  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  the  prince  assaulted  by  the  mob,  to  whom  he 
was  personally  unpopular. 

That  even  one  so  eminent  as  Wycliffe  should  assail  an  insti- 
tution like  the  English  Church  was  intolerable.  His  adversaries 
owned  that  he  was  "  the  greatest  theologian  of  the  day,  second  to 
none  as  a  philosopher,  and  incomparable  as  a  schoolman ;  "^  but 
so  much  the  more  was  it  necessary  to  silence  him.  The 
Church  was  in  its  noon  of  splendour.  The  cathedrals  of 
Lincoln,  Wells,  Peterborough,  and  Salisbury  had  only  lately 
been  finished.  London  was  full  of  grand  convents  of  the 
Begging  Friars,  and  parish  churches  had  been  built  in  almost 
every  street.  Nor  was  the  country  less  bountifully  supplied. 
But,  like  that  of  the  sun,  this  blaze  was  only  a  veil  over  the 
central  darkness  beneath,  and  there  was  a  growing  conviction 
that  it  was  so.  The  awe  that  had  been  felt  for  the  Papacy 
was  sensibly  diminished  by  its  seat  in  these  years  being  at 
Avignon,  in  France,  through  intestine  strife  in  Italy.  A  fierce 
hatred  and  contempt  of  its  illimitable  greed,  extortion,  and 
corruption  filled  all  hearts.  Parliament,  in  its  statutes  against 
Provisors,''  and  of  Premunire,^  only  expressed  the  feeling  of  the 
nation. 

*  Knighton,  Canon  Regular  of  Leicester  Abbey,  p.  2644  (a  contem- 
porary and  adversary  of  Wycliffe). 

'  The  Popes  were  in  the  habit  of  granting  benefices  during  the  life- 
time of  incumbents,  and  also  of  reserving  what  benefices  they  chose  for  their 
private  patronage.  This  was  based  on  a  claim  they  made  to  dispose,  of 
right,  of  all  benefices  in  Christendom.  "  Provision  "  was  the  legal  term 
for  thus  "providing  "  for  vacancies,  and  against  this  the  Statute  of  "  Pro- 
visors  "  was  levelled. 

*  Apparently  corrupted  from  Prsemoneri — to  be  forewarned.     It  is  the 


40  The  English  Reformation.       [a.d.  1374— 1384. 

Nor  did  the  clergy  by  personal  worth  counteract  the  growing 
prejudice  against  them.  With  all  their  wealth,  the  bishops 
and  abbots  selfishly  refused  to  do  their  part  in  bearing  the 
burdens  of  the  State.  Their  courts  took  no  notice  of  the 
crimes,  vices,  and  irregularities  of  priests,  monks,  and  friars, 
but  they  worried  and  fleeced  the  community  at  large  by  their 
claim  to  control  wills,  contracts,  and  divorces ;  by  the  endless 
dues  and  fees  they  exacted,  and  the  countless  legal  citations  of  all 
classes  of  citizens,  on  irritating  pretexts,  to  extort  costs  and  fines. 

With  all  this,  they  were  torn  by  internal  feuds  and  rivalries. 
Each  order  of  friars,  as  we  have  seen,  hated  the  other ;  the 
monks  hated  both  them  and  the  parish  priests,  and  the  parish 
priests  looked  on  both  friars  and  monks  as  their  natural 
enemies.  The  bishops  again,  were  severed  from  the  mass  of 
the  clergy  by  the  shameful  contrast  between  their  revenues 
and  the  wretched  pittance  of  the  "  poor  parsons,"  and  by  their 
universal  struggle  for  political  advancement. 

Foiled  in  their  first  plot,  the  bishops  would  have  been  con- 
tented for  the  time  with  the  humiliation  of  their  great  enemy, 
John  of  Gaimt,  before  the  people.  But  the  monks  and  friars 
were  determined  not  to  let  Wycliffe  escape,  and  applied  to  the 
Pope,  Gregory  XI.,  the  last  in  Avignon  before  the  Great  Schism, 
to  take  the  matter  in  hand.  Ready  at  all  times  to  interfere  in 
the  private  questions  of  nations,  this  was  at  once  done.  Bulls 
were  forthwith  sent  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the 
Bishop  of  London,  and  the  University  of  Oxford,  calling  for 
action  against  the  Reformer;  a  letter  to  the  same  eifect,  to 
the  king,  accompanying  them.  But  before  they  arrived  in 
England  Edward  III.  had  died  ;  his  grandson,  Richard  II.  was 
a  minor,  and  the  widow  of  the  Black  Prince,  the  yoimg  king's 
mother,  was  friendly  to  Wycliffe. 

first  word  of  the  writ.  The  first  Statute  of  Premunire  had  been  passed 
in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.,  but  had  been  treated  with  contempt  by  Rome. 
So  early  and  so  stoutly  did  England  maintain  its  independence  of  the 
Popes  even  when  accepting  them  as  the  head  of  the  Church. 


A.D.  1374-1384-]  John  Wycliffe.  41 

The  University  refused  to  acknowledge  the  Pope's  claim  to 
interfere,  treating  it  as  a  breach  of  its  privileges,  till  letters 
from  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  at  last  compelled  the 
Chancellor  to  send  the  offender  to  London,  and  thither  accord- 
ingly he  went.  But  though  he  appeared  alone,  he  was  not 
unprotected,  for  the  Princess  of  Wales,  the  young  king's 
mother,  sent  to  the  bishops  requiring  that  they  should  proceed 
no  further  against  him.  He  could,  thus,  well  bear  himself 
defiantly,  reiterating  his  obnoxious  opinions  respecting  Church 
property,  and  clerical  misdoers,  and  ending  with  the  startling 
assertion,  which  he  had  already  circulated  widely,  and  laid 
before  Parliament,  in  his  public  defence  when  first  accused  by 
the  Bishop  of  London, — that  "  it  is  not  possible  that  a  man 
should  be  excommunicated  to  his  damage,  unless  he  were  first 
and  principally  excommimicated  by  himself," — a  sentiment 
utterly  subversive  of  the  haughty  claims  of  the  Church  to 
implicit  obedience.  But  in  spite  of  his  bearing,  the  support 
of  the  Crown  and  the  people  paralyzed  all  action  against  him, 
and  he  returned  home  in  peace.  At  the  end  of  the  year,  Lam- 
beth Palace  saw  him  once  more  in  the  capital,  to  meet  his 
accusers  again,  but  the  people  rallied  round  him  and  raised  such  • 
a  tumult  that  the  bishop  broke  up  the  court,  and  he  again 
returned  unharmed. 

Henceforward  his  course  was  more  determined  than  ever. 
In  1378  the  Papacy  had  returned  to  Rome  from  Avignon,  where 
it  had  sat  from  1305  to  1377,  but  it  was  almost  immediately 
disgraced  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  Great  Schism,  in  which 
rival  Popes  anathematized  each  other  for  over  seventy  years. 
He  had  seen  the  corruption  of  the  Papacy  while  in  conference 
with  the  Papal  delegates  at  Bruges,  in  1374,  and,  now,  this 
schism  deepened  his  convictions  of  its  inherent  evil.  His  brave 
English  heart  could  no  longer  be  content  with  the  reform  of 
single  abuses.  He  appealed  to  the  government,  in  writings 
sent  abroad  through  the  land,  to  reform  the  Church  as  a  whole, 
and  spared  no  rank  in  the  hierarchy  where  he  thought  it  wrong. 


42  Tfie  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1408. 

"  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them  "  was  applied  to  church- 
men as  freely  as  to  laymen,  and  men  were  urged  to  study  the 
Scriptures  for  the  principles  of  their  faith  and  to  judge  from 
them,  for  themselves,  as  to  the  claims  of  those  who  professed  to 
be  their  spiritual  guides.  To  Wycliffe  the  Pope  was  now 
"  Antichrist,  the  proud  worldly  priest  of  Rome,  and  the  most 
cursed  of  money-clippers  and  cut-purses."  Many  of  the  "poor 
priests,"  had  allied  themselves  with  the  Reformer,  and  numbers 
of  these  he  sent  out,  through  the  country,  to  oppose  a  genuine 
apostolic  agency  to  the  corrupt  teaching  and  life  of  the  friars, 
and  to  preach  against  the  Anti-christian  hierarchy  and  the  abuses 
in  the  Church. 

A  still  grander  service  to  his  country  was  presently,  however, 
to  be  rendered.  From  the  days  of  Caedmon,  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, portions  of  the  Scriptures  had,  from  time  to  time,  been 
translated  by  worthy  men  into  the  tongue  of  the  people,  but 
they  had  remained  fragmentary,  and  had  speedily  fallen  out  of 
sight.  Wycliffe  now  determined  to  translate  the  whole  Bible 
into  English,  and  send  it  abroad  through  the  land.  How  new 
the  conception  was  in  his  day  was  shown  by  the  fierce  oppo- 
sition of  the  clergy.  "  Christ,"  says  Knighton,  indignantly, 
"  delivered  his  doctrine  to  the  clergy  and  doctors  of  the  Church, 
that  they  might  gently  administer  to  the  laity  and  weak  folks, 
according  to  the  want  of  the  time,  and  the  weakness  of  their 
minds.  But  this  Master  John  Wycliffe  has  translated  it  from 
Latin  into  the  Anglic — not  the  Angelic — tongue,  so  that  it 
has  become  a  people's  book,  more  open  to  laymen  and  women 
who  can  read,  than  it  has  hitherto  been  to  even  the  best  edu- 
cated and  most  intelligent  of  the  clergy.  Thus  the  gospel 
pearl  is  cast  abroad  and  trodden  under  foot  of  swine.  The 
jewel  of  the  Church  is  made  the  sport  of  the  people,  and  what 
has  hitherto  been  the  chief  possession  of  the  clergy  is  made 
for  ever  common  to  the  laity."  While  Richard  11.  was  on  the 
throne  little  could  be  done  to  suppress  the  hated  book,  but 
under  Henry  IV.,  in  1408,  many  years  after  Wycliffe's  death,  the 


A.D.  1374-1384-]  yohn  Wycliffe..  43 

clergy,  met  in  Synod,  enacted  that  "  the  translation  of  the 
text  of  Holy  Scripture  out  of  one  tongue  into  another  is  a 
dangerous  thing.  Therefore  we  decree  and  ordain  that  no  one, 
henceforth,  do,  by  his  own  authority,i  translate  any  text  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  into  the  English  tongue.  Nor  let  any  such 
book  or  treatise  composed  in  the  time  of  John  Wycliffe,  or 
hereafter  to  be  composed,  be  read  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  public 
or  in  private,  under  pain  of  the  greater  excommunication."''  It 
might  seem  from  this  as  if  they  purposed  themselves  to  trans- 
late it,  but  they  never  did  so.  Wycliffe's  only  answer  to  the 
storm  of  indignation  thus  raised  at  his  audacity  was  worthy  of 
him — "  The  clergy  cry  aloud,"  wrote  he  in  his  published  defence, 
"  that  it  is  heresy  to  speak  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  English, 
and  so  they  would  condemn  the  Holy  Ghost  who  gave  it  in 
Tongues  to  the  Apostles  of  Christ,  to  speak  the  Word  of  God  in 
all  languages  under  Heaven."  He  was  assisted  in  his  gigantic 
undertaking  by  an  unknown  band  of  kindred  spirits,  of  whom 
the  names  of  only  two  have  come  down  to  us — Nicholas  of 
Hereford,  and  John  Purvey. 

The  new  movement  had  gradually  spread  so  widely  that  it 
now  got  a  name — that  of  Lollardism,  from  the  Lollards,  a 
religious  brotherhood,  originally  founded  in  Antwerp  about 
1 300,  in  a  time  of  plague,  to  visit  the  sick  and  bury  the  dead. 
Among  other  names,  that  of  Lollard  was  given  them  from  their 
singing  in  a  soft  voice  as  they  bore  the  dead  to  the  grave. 
Spreading  erelong  to  Germany,  they  fell  under  the  dislike  of 
the  clergy  and  the  monks,  till  their  name  was  used,  like  that  of 
the  Beghards — a  similar  religious  order,  now  degraded  into  our 
word  beggar — as  a  mockery,  or  an  innuendo  of  heresy.'  Hence 
it  was  now  applied  to  WycliflEe's  followers,  for  their  opposition 


*  It  was  added  that,  if  approved  by  the  bishops,  or  by  a  council,  trans- 
lations might  be  read — but  none  were  ever  thus  approved. 

*  Wilkin's  Concilia,  iii.  317. 

*  Art.  "  LoUarden,"  Brockhaus'  Lexicon,  vol.  ix. 


44  The  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1374-1384. 

to  the  Pope  and  the  Church.  Many  of  these  were  already 
found  among  the  better  educated,  few  though  that  class  was 
then  in  England,  and  through  them  the  new  translation  of  the 
Bible  was  sure  to  spread  among  the  people.  Others  had  done 
a  good  work  in  fragmentary  translations  in  past  ages,  and  had 
paved  the  way  for  the  labours  of  Wycliffe  and  his  company ; 
but  to  these  must  ever  be  ascribed  the  honour  of  having  first 
given  an  English  Bible  to  the  nation.  Their  having  done  so  is 
itself  their  vindication  from  the  slanders  of  their  enemies. 
Wycliffe  had  long  had  the  undertaking  in  his  mind,  for  there 
are  indications  of  his  having  been  working  at  it  thirty  years 
before  his  death ;  but  it  was  not  completed  till  the  very  close  of 
his  life,  and  it  was  not  published  for  some  time  after  he  had 
entered  on  his  reward.^ 

The  great  work  once  done  could  never  be  destroyed  by  the 
utmost  efforts  of  the  clergy.  Indeed,  within  a  few  years,  a 
corrected  version  was  issued  by  the  friends  of  the  Reformer, 
and  so  widely  was  it  multiplied  that  more  than  a  hundred  and 
fifty  copies,  the  majority  laboriously  transcribed  before  1430, 
still  exist,  and  many  more  must  have  been  spread  amongst 
the  people,  in  whole,  and  in  the  separate  books,  to  leave  so 
large  a  number  in  our  day,  in  spite  of  time  and  violence.  The 
revised  translation,  indeed,  was  everywhere  sought  after.  Copies 
of  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  all  classes,  even  the  king-  and  the 
princes  of  the  blood  having  transcripts  made  for  them.  Many 
of  those  still  preserved  show,  in  their  costly  and  artistic  form, 
at  once  the  value  set  on  the  Word  of  God  thus  made  acces- 
sible, and  also  that  the  wealthy  alone  could  have  paid  the  outlay 
involved.  Plainer  copies  of  course  are  more  numerous,  for  rich 
and  poor  alike  esteemed  so  precious  a  gift.  Wycliffe 's  Bible,  in 
fact,  was  in  secret  but  general  use  till  the  Reformation. 

The  grand  old  man  was  not  content,  however,  with  his 
labours  as  a  translator.     From  his  quiet  Lutterworth  rectory  he 

»  Blunt's  English  Bible,  20. 


A.D.  1374-1384.]  John  Wycliffe.  45 

sent  out  in  1381  what  must  have  startled  the  whole  religious 
world  of  his  day — a  declaration  against  Transubstantiation. 
But  the  revolt  of  the  peasants  under  Wat  Tyler  against  serf- 
dom, after  centuries  of  suppressed  resistance,  was  fatal  to  the 
hopes  of  a  reform  of  the  Church  by  the  barons  and  Commons 
in  Parliament,  which  Wycliffe  had  dreamed  of  obtaining.  It 
was  a  distant  echo,  perhaps,  of  the  rising  of  the  Swiss  peasants 
in  1 31 5,  which  had  secured  their  liberty  on  the  field  of  Mor- 
garten,  or  of  that  of  the  peasantry  of  Picardy  in  the  awful 
Jacquerie,  in  1358 ;  but  in  any  case  it  boded  unknown  terrors 
for  the  future,  which  broke  out  at  intervals  over  Europe  till  it 
culminated  in  the  Peasants'  War  of  Germany  in  15 15. 

Meanwhile  it  was  dexterously  used  to  cry  down  every  pro- 
posal for  Church  reform,  Lollardism  being  alleged  to  have  been 
at  the  root  of  the  rebellion,  though  Wycliffe  threw  back  the 
accusation  with  disdain.  There  was,  in  fact,  no  connection 
between  the  two  beyond  the  inevitable  recognition  by  the 
oppressed  in  a  time  of  religious  excitement,  that  evangelical 
religion  is  ever  on  the  side  of  freedom,  and  the  fact  that  as  such 
it  has  their  sympathy.  Henceforth,  the  new  opinions  were  to 
spread  by  their  own  worth ;  and  men  must  wait  for  their  effect 
on  the  existing  corruptions. 

Hitherto,  Wycliffe  had  been  only  an  earnest  advocate  for 
reform  of  the  discipline  and  political  relations  of  the  Church ; 
but  in  his  new  attitude  towards  Transubstantiation  and  other 
doctrines  he  attacked  its  cardinal  beliefs.  It  was  the  first  pro- 
test against  the  authority  of  Rome  in  matters  of  faith,  and 
heralded  the  great  revolt  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which  estab- 
lished religious  freedom,  and  separated  England  and  Germany 
from  the  Papacy.  But  even  the  university,  which  hitherto  had 
favoured  him,  was  astounded  at  any  single  man,  however 
famous,  standing  up,  utterly  alone,  against  the  world,  to  con- 
demn what  all  Christendom  cherished  as  its  most  sacred 
doctrine.  In  a  panic  of  fear  it  condemned  him.  But  he 
feared  the  face  of  no  man,  and  challenged  any  one  to  disprove 


46  The  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1374-1384. 

his  arguments.  John  of  Gaunt,  to  whom  he  appealed  for  sup- 
port, had  no  sympathy  with  a  religious  question,  and  com- 
manded him  to  be  silent ;  but  he  answered  by  a  reassertion  of 
the  obnoxious  opinion.  Erelong  his  calm  manliness  won  the 
university  once  more  to  his  side ;  and  now,  no  longer  bound  by 
any  artificial  alliance  with  Gaunt  and  his  party,  he  could  hence- 
forth act  with  more  freedom  and  boldness  than  ever.  From  the 
rich  and  the  learned  he  therefore  turned  with  a  true  instinct  to 
the  people,  and  sent  out  tract  after  tract  in  racy  English,  with 
a  rapidity  which  amazes  us  as  we  read  their  mere  titles.  He 
had  at  last  broken  the  spell  which  had  held  even  his  mind  so 
long  to  Rome,  and  soon  passed  from  repudiating  Transubstan- 
tiation  to  deny  one  after  another  the  additions  that  had  been 
made  to  primitive  Christianity.  The  Bible  alone  was  hence- 
forth accepted  as  the  ground  of  faith,  and  the  right  to  examine 
it  for  himself  was  claimed  for  every  man.  The  power  of 
granting  indulgences,  and  of  binding  and  loosing,  was  declared 
a  delusion ;  auricular  confession  was  superfluous ;  pardons, 
pilgrimages  to  the  shrines  of  the  saints,  and  the  invocation 
of  the  saints  unauthorized ;  worship  of  images  or  pictures, 
idolatry ;  the  miracles  attributed  to  them  were  so  much  fraud  ; 
the  clergy  should  live  in  their  benefices ;  those  who  farmed 
these  to  others  should  be  degraded ;  and  it  was  insisted  that 
rich  prelates,  abbots  and  priests  should  humble  themselves,  and 
enforce  their  teaching  by  example. 

The  time  was,  in  one  sense,  ripe  for  such  opinions.  Wycliffe's 
poor  priests  pervaded  the  land,  and  spread  his  teachings  among 
all  classes,  in  city  and  country.  Lollardism  was  fast  becoming 
the  national  creed.  But  the  bishops  were  determined,  if 
possible,  to  put  it  down.  A  council  held  at  Blackfriars,  after 
three  days'  deliberation,  decided  that,  out  of  twenty- four 
propositions  drawn  from  Wycliffe's  works,  ten  were  heretical, 
and  the  rest  erroneous.  Forthwith  this  decision  was  sent  to 
Oxford,  to  be  publicly  read  out ;  but  the  university  authorities 
would  not  let  it  be  published.      The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 


A.0. 1374-1384-1  John  Wycliffe.  47 

of  the  day — Courtenay — however,  was  determined.  The  Revolt 
of  the  Peasants,  and  his  troubles  with  the  baronage  had  alarmed 
the  young  king,  Richard  II.,  and  he  was  disposed  to  strengthen 
his  position  by  an  alliance  with  the  Church.  A  royal  order  was 
therefore  sent  down  to  Oxford  to  carry  out  the  Archbishop's 
injunction ;  but  the  students  rose  in  tumult,  and  threatened 
death  to  the  friars.  The  university  authorities,  moreover, 
suspended  a  lecturer  for  calling  the  Lollards  "  heretics."  But 
the  strong  will  of  Courtenay  prevailed.  Having  tried  in  vain  to 
induce  the  Commons  to  pass  an  Act  against  the  Reformer  and 
his  followers,  he  obtained  a  king's  writ  empowering  the  bishops 
to  seize  and  imprison  them  by  the  hands  of  their  own  officers, 
those  of  the  king  being  commanded  to  assist  them.  Every 
pressure  was  also  put  on  the  offenders,  till  some  consented  to 
recant,  others  were  forced  to  flee,  and  all  Lollard  books,  as  far 
as  possible,  had  been  seized  and  destroyed.  Wycliffe  was  now 
summoned  before  a  Synod,  in  November,  1382.  He  was  at 
least  fifty-eight  years  old,  perhaps  over  sixty,  weak  and  broken 
in  body,  but  strong  in  his  principles,  intellect,  and  will.  As  he 
had  foreseen  this  issue,  he  had  drawn  up  and  sent  abroad  a 
defence,  in  the  form  of  a  petition  to  the  king  and  Parliament, 
and  it  had  its  effect.  The  people  demanded  that  the  Bill 
proposed  against  him  in  Parliament  should  be  withdrawn,  and 
it  was  so.  Wycliffe  appeared  before  the  Synod,  and  defended 
himself  with  such  ability  and  courage,  that  his  judges  were 
forced  to  content  themselves  with  banishing  him  from  the 
university,  allowing  him,  however,  to  retain  his  rectory.  But 
his  enemies  were  not  satisfied.  As  England  would  not  allow 
them  to  wreak  their  full  vengeance  on  him,  they  turned  to  the 
Roman  Curia,  asking  it  to  take  proceedings  against  the  heretic. 
In  consequence  of  this  he  received  a  summons  from  the  Pope 
to  appear  at  Rome,  which  he  excused  himself  from  doing  on 
the  plea  of  ill-health.  His  answer,  preserved  in  what  seems  to 
have  been  a  sermon,  was  throughout  in  keeping  with  his  life. 
**  I  am  always  glad,"  said  he,  "  to  explain  my  faith  to  any  one. 


48  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1384. 

and,  above  all,  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome;  for  I  take  it  for  granted 
that  if  it  be  orthodox  he  will  confirm  it :  if  erroneous,  he  will 
correct  it.  I  assume,  too,  that  as  Chief  Vicar  of  Christ  upon 
earth,  the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  of  all  mortal  men  most  bound  to 
the  law  of  Christ's  Gospel,  for  among  the  disciples  of  Christ  a 
majority  is  not  reckoned  by  simply  counting  heads,  in  the 
fashion  of  this  world,  but  according  to  the  imitation  of  Christ 
on  either  side.  Now  Christ,  during  His  life  on  earth,  was  of 
all  men  the  poorest,  casting  from  Him  all  worldly  authorities. 
I  deduce  from  these  premisses,  as  a  simple  counsel  of  my  own, 
that  the  Pope  should  surrender  all  temporal  authority  to  the 
civil  power,  and  advise  his  clergy  to  do  the  same."  No  wonder 
Wycliffe  was  denounced  as  a  heretic.  It  was  well  for  him  that 
he  was  soon  to  be  beyond  even  a  Pope's  vengeance.  Before  it 
could  reach  him  a  stroke  of  paralysis,  while  he  was  performing 
service  in  his  parish  ''hurch,  removed  him  to  his  heavenly 
reward.     He  died  on  the  last  day  of  1384.* 

A  character  like  that  of  Wycliffe  is  an  appearance  rare  in  the 
history  of  a  nation.  Luther  was  not  more  resolute  in  his 
demand  for  freedom  of  the  conscience,  though  he  came  four 
generations  after ;  and  Wycliffe  was  far  in  advance  of  him  in 
the  clearness  and  depth  of  many  of  his  views.  After  giving 
forth  his  "De  Dominio.Divino,"  which  touched  the  limits  of 
Church  politics,  he  had  turned  exclusively  to  theology.  Eccle- 
siastical reform  took  the  place  of  political  in  his  regards. 
Exhausting  that  sphere  in  book  after  book,  and  leaving  a 
wonderful  ideal  of  primitive  simplicity  and  purity  as  his  con- 
ception of  the  true  constitution  of  the  Church,  he  passed  to  the 
deeper  question  of  spreading  the  truth.  His  "poor  priests," 
travelling  from  village  to  village  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the 
language  of  the  people,  was  a  thought  worthy  such  a  man. 
Like    the    Apostles,   he    put,   not    the    sacraments,  but  the 

'  I  am  indebted  for  many  facts  in  this  sketch  to  the  German  Life  of 
Wycliffe,  by  Dr.  G.  Lechler. 


A.ai384j  John  Wydiffe.  49 

"  ministry  of  the  word  "  in  the  front.^  Special  writings  sup- 
ported this  plan,  and  he  himself  illustrated  it  by  his  unceasing 
diligence  as  a  preacher.  Hundreds  of  sermons,  still  extant, 
are  the  proof  of  this.  To  expound  the  Bible  rather  than  the 
Sentences  of  Lombard  or  the  Summa  of  Aquinas  was  to  earn 
the  contempt  of  his  contemporaries  as  a  *'  Biblicist ;"  but  he 
chose  to  bear  the  noble  shame,  and  has  left  behind  notes  on 
many  books  of  both  Testaments.  His  theology  was  in  keeping 
with  all  else — manly,  intelligent,  and  Scriptural.  His  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  into  English  was  a  gift  his  country  can  never 
over-value.  Nor  did  his  influence  end  with  his  life.  The 
Lollards,  his  spiritual  children,  kept  alive  evangelical  religion  in 
England  till  the  Reformation  came,  and  his  in/luence  was 
unbounded  in  Bohemia  in  the  generations  following  his  death 
and  even  in  his  Ufetime.  Some  of  his  writings  were  already 
publicly  read  in  the  University  of  Prague  in  1381,  and  Huss 
had  read  them  in  1390.  Jerome  of  Prague  was  not  the  only 
Bohemian  who  studied  at  Oxford,  and  recognized  him  as  the 
Evangelical  Doctor  long  after  his  death.  A  life  which  even 
Dr.  Lingard  speaks  of  as  "a  pattern,"  and  a  grand  originality 
which  could  lead  men  back  to  the  fountains  of  truth  when  they 
had  wandered  far  from  them,  make  his  name  as  venerable  for 
his  worth  and  genius  as  the  stout-heartedness  which  dared  be 
singular  for  God  and  the  right  commands  our  homage  to  him 
as  a  hero. 

*  Acts  vi.  4. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE      LOLLARDS. 


WITH  Wycliffe  ended  the  race  of  English  Schoolmen. 
Ever  since  the  days  of  Lanfranc  and  Anselm,  great 
theologians  and  thinkers  of  different  schools  had  succeeded 
each  other,  generation  after  generation,  and,  as  always  happens, 
the  mere  exercise  of  the  faculties  had  more  and  more  vindi- 
cated the  right  of  the  intellect  to  freedom.  Wycliffe  had  been 
the  result  in  England,  but  men  of  his  order  had  risen  else- 
where, at  different  times  through  the  fourteenth  century  (i  301 — 
1400).  In  Germany  the  abuses  of  the  Church  and  the  influence 
of  the  schools  had  produced  John  of  Goch,  John  Wessel,  and 
the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Lot.  In  Bohemia,  Conrad  of 
Waldhausen,  and  Milicz  of  Kremsier  sought  to  revive  a  purer 
Christianity,  and  Matthias  of  Janow,  Canon  of  the  Cathedral 
at  Prague,  like  Wycliffe,  had  appealed  to  the  Bible  as  the  one 
source  of  Christian  faith  and  practice.  Over  all  Europe  there 
were  loud  demands  for  a  Reformation. 

Richard  II.,  son  of  the  Black  Prince,  had  been  seven  years 
on  the  throne  when  Wychffe  died,  but  was,  even  yet,  only 
eighteen  years  old.  The  terrible  mortality  caused  by  the  Black 
Death,  in  the  middle  of  the  century,  and  the  destruction  of  life 
by  the  long  French  wars,  had  revolutionized  the  social  condition 
of  the  peasantry.  Mere  serfage  could  no  longer  content  them, 
nor  would  they   accept   the   wages  given  when  labour   was 


A.D.  1417]  The  Lollards,  5 1 

abundant.  A  new  era  was  insensibly  beginning,  and  much 
suffering  and  restlessness  were  inevitable  in  the  transition  from 
the  old.  The  lay  and  ecclesiastical  landowners,  unwilling  or 
unable  to  obtain  labour  now  it  was  scarce  and  dear,  took  to 
pasturage,  merging  small  holdings  into  large,  and  evicting  the 
free-labourers  and  those  who  had  formerly,  as  serfs,  been  bound 
to  the  soil,  in  doing  so.  Pauperism  was  thus  daily  increased, 
and  grew  constantly  worse  in  each  generation,  till  it  became 
almost  insupportable  in  the  days  of  the  Tudors. 

To  the  disappointment  of  the  bishops,  their  measures  against 
Wycliffe,  and  even  his  death,  failed  to  put  an  end  to  the  opinions 
he  had  spread.  As  long  back  as  1382  his  followers  had  been 
sneered  at  as  "  Lollards,"  and  as  such  they  were  to  trouble  the 
unholy  quiet  of  the  Church  till  the  Reformation  finally  gave 
them,  after  all,  the  victory. 

The  doctrines  of  these  simple  Confessors  were  wonderfully 
sound  and  moderate  for  such  an  age.  Their  central  principle 
was  an  anticipation  of  Chillingworth's  phrase,  that  the  Bible  is 
the  religion  of  Protestants.  A  devotional  book  of  theirs,  com- 
posed not  long  after  Wycliffe's  death — "The  Lantern  of 
Light " — borrows  its  title  from  the  words  of  the  Psalm,  "  Thy 
word  is  a  light  to  my  feet ;"  and  the  preface  closes  with  the 
prayer,  "  When  Thou,  O  Lord,  didst  die  on  the  cross.  Thou 
didst  put  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Thy  Word,  and  gavest  it  power 
to  make  alive,  through  Thine  own  dear  blood,  as  Thou  Thyself 
sayest,  '  The  words  which  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit  and 
life.'"  Their  preaching  was  called  " God's  law;"  they  them- 
selves, "  Biblemen."  They  would  receive  only  what  could  be 
proved  from  Scripture.  "  I  believe,"  said  Lord  Cobham,  in 
141 7,  when  before  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  "  that  God 
requires  nothing  more  from  believers  than  that  they  obey  His 
holy  law.  If  a  prelate  asks  more,  he  does  despite  to  Christ, 
sets  himself  above  God,  and  is  plainly  an  Antichrist." 

The  adoration  paid  to  the  saints  and  their  images,  and  the 
pilgrimages  made  to  these  images,  were  especially  disliked  by 


C2  Tiie  English  Reformation.       [a.d.  1384-1400. 

them.    They  granted  the  use  of  images  as  permissible,  but 
were  earnest  against  the  abuses  to  which  they  led.     In  the 
Eucharist  they  saw  unchanged  bread  and  wine,  even  after  con- 
secration, but,  Uke  Luther,  they  beUeved  that  Christ's  body  and 
blood,  though  distinct  from  them,  were  truly  present.     Some, 
indeed,  seem  even  to  have  come  nearly  to  Hooker's  view,  which 
is  doubtless  the  right,  that  the  presence  of  Christ  is  in  the 
believing  recipient.    "  The  power  and  grace  of  the  Holy  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Altar,"  says  one  Lollard  confessor,  "stands  far 
more  in  the  faith  in  it  which  one  has  in  his  soul,  than  in  the 
outward  appearance."   In  their  doctrines  respecting  the  Church, 
they  put  the  personal  worth  of  the  minister  in  the  first  place, 
holding  that  the  right  and  fitness  of  a  priest  to  exercise  his 
office  depended  on  his  worth — a  doctrine  diametrically  opposite 
to  that  of  Rome  and  of  those  who  regard  the  priesthood  as 
independent  of  the  man.     If  a  priest  was  in  mortal  sin,  he 
should  not  be  paid  his  tithes — a  doctrine  we  practically  admit 
in  our  Church  courts — and  if  otherwise  criminal,  he  should 
neither  dispense  the  sacraments  nor  hear  confession.     On  the 
other  hand,  they  held  that  every  good  man,  if  duly  educated,  is 
a  priest,  and  that  every  layman  should  preach  who  could — 
opinions  held  by  many  at  this  day.     "  It  is  every  priest's  office 
and  duty,"  said  one,  under  examination,  "  to  preach  busily, 
freely,  and  truly,  the  Word  of  God ;"  he  should  prove  the  truth 
of  his  words  by  a  holy  life ;  bishops  should  especially  apply 
themselves  to  secure  conscientious  and  worthy  priests.     Auri- 
cular confession  they  rejected,  though  they  valued  the  counsel 
and  the  prayers  of  a  godly  minister  when  one  was  troubled 
by  conscious  sin. 

Wycliffe  had  early  found  support  among  all  classes.  Several 
knights  and  barons  became  his  adherents,  and  in  Oxford 
especially  he  gathered  round  him  a  number  of  learned  men, 
who  became  the  apostles  of  his  movement.  But  it  was  among 
the  people  generally  that  he  found  his  great  success,  multitudes 
being  won  over  by  his  evangelists,  who,  in  long  gowns  of  coarse 


A.D.  1384— i4oa] 


The  Lollards.  53 


rasset,  with  bare  feet  and  a  staff  in  hand,  held  religious  services 
wherever  they  could  find  hearers. 

Already  in  1382,  as  we  have  seen,  Courtenay,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  had  sought  to  get  a  Bill  passed  through  Parliament 
to  crush  the  new  sect,  but  failed  to  induce  the  Commons  to 
support  it.  They  would  not  believe  his  representations  respect- 
ing them,  A  royal  letter,  however,  did  much,  by  empowering 
the  bishops  to  arrest  and  throw  into  their  own  prisons  any 
Lollard  preachers  they  might  find.  Their  success  at  Oxford  has 
been  already  told,  and  they  might  have  fancied  that  at  Wycliffe's 
death  their  troubles  were  over.  But  his  mantle  had  been  caught 
by  his  Oxford  colleagues.  Undismayed  by  the  bishops,  they 
were  indefatigable  in  their  missionary  journeys,  in  which  they 
erelong  associated  with  themselves  other  men  of  standing.  Nor 
were  powerful  friends  wanting  to  protect  them,  or  even  to  pro- 
tect their  meetings  by  an  armed  guard  like  that  of  the  Cove- 
nanters in  a  later  day.  Books  were  also  written,  and  these,  with 
parts  of  the  English  Bible,  served  to  supply  the  wants  of 
secret  meetings  in  the  absence  of  the  preachers.  London  and 
the  country  round,  and  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  in  which,  at  that 
time,  Oxford  and  Leicester  were  included,  and  also  the  dioceses 
of  Worcester  and  Salisbury,  were  their  chief  seats.  So  nume- 
rous did  they  become,  that  Knighton  says,  one  could  scarcely 
meet  two  men  in  the  street  but  one  was  a  Lollard.^ 

Yet  nothing  could  for  the  present  be  done  by  the  bishops.  In 
1382  the  king  had  married  Anne  of  Bohemia,  a  woman  of  an 
excellent  spirit,  and  a  diligent  reader  of  Wycliffe's  English 
Bible.  With  such  a  friend  at  court  the  Lollards  were  safe  for  the 
time.  The  barons  and  upper  classes,  moreover,  were  too 
jealous  of  any  appeal  by  the  Church  to  the  civil  power  for  sup- 
port, to  let  it  carry  out  the  persecution  it  desired.  A  statute 
passed  under  the  panic  of  the  Peasants'  revolt,  requiring  sheriffs 
to  arrest  and  imprison  all  persons  charged  by  the  bishops  as 

'  For  much  interesting  information  on  the  Lollards,  see  Die  Lollarden. 
By  Dr.  G.  Lechler. 


54  TJte  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1399- 

preachers  of  heresy,  was  repealed  the  year  after,  the  Commons 
adding  the  biting  remark  that  they  thought  it  "  in  nowise  their 
interest  to  be  more  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  prelates,  or 
more  bound  by  them,  than  their  ancestors  had  been  in  times 
past,  and  that  this  statute  had  never  been  assented  to  or  granted 
by  them."  Meanwhile  the  bearing  of  the  Church  towards  them 
kindled  a  fiercer  dislike  to  it  on  the  part  of  the  Reformers.  Par- 
liament, indignant  at  the  continual  interference  of  the  Popes 
with  the  internal  affairs  of  the  Church  in  England,  had  passed 
the  Statute  of  Premunire,  again,  in  1392,  denouncingthe  confisca- 
tion of  all  property  against  any  one  who  solicited  or  brought 
into  the  kingdom  any  Papal  bulls  against  the  rights  and  dignity 
of  the  Crown,  and  the  Lollards  followed  this  up,  in  1394,  by 
petitioning  Parliament  through  Sir  John  01dcastle,Lord  Cobham, 
to  reform  the  Church.  In  this  document  they  no  longer  con- 
cealed their  opinions,  but  joined  to  their  denunciations  of  the 
exorbitant  power,  excessive  wealth,  and  profligate  lives  of  the 
clergy,  a  protest  against  transubstantiation,  prayers  for  the  dead, 
the  worship  of  images,  pilgrimages,  auricular  confession,  and 
other  points,  and  declared  that  the  king  might  maintain  from  the 
superfluous  revenues  of  the  Church,  fifteen  earls,  fifteen  hundred 
knights,  and  six  thousand  squires,  besides  endowing  a  hundred 
hospitals  for  the  poor,  providing  also  an  adequate  endowment 
for  fifteen  thousand  parish  priests,  and  drawing,  besides,  a  clear 
revenue  to  the  Crown  of  ;^20,ooo  a  year,  a  statement  accepted 
as  correct,  and  repeated  by  Parliament  in  the  next  reign.  It  is 
no  discredit  to  the  petitioners  that  with  these  prayers  they  joined 
another  that  war  might  be  declared  un-Christian,  and  that  trades 
which  were  contrary  to  apostolic  poverty  might  be  prohibited. 
In  all  great  religious  movements,  especially  in  such  an  age,  inuch 
that  is  ideal  and  extreme  always  mingles  at  first  with  what  is 
practical.  Sir  John  Oldcastle's  offence  in  bringing  in  such  a 
proposal  was,  however,  never  forgotten,  and  was  revenged  by  his 
martyrdom  in  due  time. 

The  Revolution   which  in    1399    deposed  Richard   for  his 


AD,  1399.] 


The  L  ollards.  5  5 


attempt  to  introduce  despotic  rule,  and  put  Henry  IV.  in  his 
place  (1399 — 1413)  brought  evil  days  for  the  Lollards.  The  new 
king  had  been  urged  to  come  over  to  England  against  Richard 
by  Archbishop  Arundel,  who,  like  Henry  himself,  was  an  exile, 
and  hoped  by  his  help  to  regain  his  see  ;  and  the  support  of  the 
primate  had  determined  that  of  the  Church.  Conscious  of  the 
badness  of  his  title  to  the  crown,  and  anxious  to  secure  the  sup- 
port of  a  body  so  wealthy  and  powerful  as  the  clergy,  Henry  was 
only  too  willing  to  reverse  the  tolerant  policy  of  Richard,  and  to 
put  the  civil  power  at  the  service  of  the  bishops.  The  barons 
and  Commons  were  wavering  in  their  loyalty  to  the  Church,  but 
its  help  was  needed  to  prop  up  the  new  throne,  and  the  price  de- 
manded for  that  help  was  paid  at  once.  To  a  meeting  of  Convo- 
cation held  a  week  after  his  accession,^  Henry  announced  that  he 
would  never  ask  money  from  the  clergy,  except  in  the  most 
urgent  need.  He  had  come,  he  said,  to  beg  the  prayers  of  the 
Church  for  himself  and  his  kingdom  ;  to  promise  that  he  would 
protect  it  in  all  its  liberties  and  immunities,  and  that  he  would 
assist  them  with  all  his  power  in  exterminating  heretics.  This 
last  promise  was  faithfully  performed,  but  he  soon  forgot  the 
other,  for  no  king  ever  made  more  frequent  demands  from  the 
clergy,  when  once  he  was  firmly  seated  on  the  throne. 

The  infamous  compact  was  not  allowed  to  sleep.  Arundel 
and  the  clergy  applied  at  once  to  Parliament  for  power  to  pro- 
ceed against  the  Lollards,  and  Henry,  to  his  abiding  infamy, 
apparently  on  his  sole  authority,  enacted  the  hideous  statute 
which  first  sentenced  Englishmen  to  be  put  to  death  for  their 
religious  opinions.  It  would  have  been  vain  to  have  tried  to 
get  the  Commons  to  pass  it,  for  they  were  bitterly  hostile  to 
the  Church  through  all  Henry's  reign.  It  was  not  grounded  on 
any  petition  of  Parliament,  as  is  usual  with  all  other  statutes 
in  these  times,  but  only  upon  one  from  the  clergy.  The 
petition  and  the  statute  are  both  in  Latin,  which  is  unusual  in 

'  6tb  October,  1399.    Richard  resigned  the  crown  on  Sept.  29th. 
4 


56  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1401. 

this  age,  and  it  was  afterwards  styled  by  the  Commons  "  the 
statute  made  in  the  second  year  of  your  Majesty's  reign,  at  the 
request  of  the  prelates  and  clergy  of  your  kingdom,"  which 
seems  to  imply  that  it  had  no  regular  assent  of  Parliament.^ 
The  unutterable  shame  of  such  a  law  rests  on  the  clergy  of  the 
day  and  on  Henry,  their  tool,  alone.  The  Commons  of  Eng- 
land are  clear  from  the  blood  of  their  fellow-countrymen  burned 
alive  for  their  faith,  by  its  authority ;  but  it  expressed  the  senti- 
ment of  Rome,  for  one  of  the  Popes,  so  long  before  as  1090, 
had  declared  that  to  kill  a  heretic  in  one's  zeal  for  Rome  was 
not  to  be  counted  even  homicide,  far  less  murder;"^  while 
another,^  still  earlier,  wrote  that  *'  to  put  a  murderer  to  death 
is  only  human  law ;  but  the  sword  that  puts  to  death  the  heretic 
is  the  sword  of  God  :  to  break  the  laws  of  the  State,  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  citizens,  is  a  serious  offence ;  but  to  speak  or  to  do 
anything  against  the  Church,  is  mortal  sin,  to  extirpate  which, 
root  and  branch,  is  a  holy  work." 

The  honour  of  being  the  first  martyr  for  the  Reformation  in 
England  fell,  almost  immediately,  to  the  lot  of  William  Sawtre, 
a  London  rector.  Tried  before  Archbishop  Arundel,  in  St. 
Paul's,  he  was  condemned  to  die  for  not  believing  that  the  bread 
and  wine  of  the  sacrament,  after  consecration,  "were  changed 
into  the  substance  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ;"  and  Smith- 
field  saw  him  presently  burned  alive.* 

A  death  so  terrible,  of  one  in  such  a  position,  struck  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  the  Lollards.  Some,  on  being  brought  before 
the  bishops,  feigned  recantation ;  others  fled ;  still  others  hid 
themselves.  It  was  not  till  nine  years  after  that  a  second  was 
brave  enough  to  face  the  fire. 

Meanwhile  insurrection  after  insurrection  of  the  partisans  of 
Richard  and  of  the  discontented  peasantry  followed  each  other, 

*  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  ch.  8.  Part  III.  page  437. 

*  Letter  of  Urban  III.  quoted  in  Art.  "Todesstrafe,"  Herzog's  Ency. 
xxi.  355. 

»  Gregory  VII.,  1073.  *  1401. 


A.D.  I406.] 


The  Lollards.  57 


and  the  Church  had  th  is  the  opportunity  of  casting  odium  on 
the  Lollards,  as  identified  with  these  troubles.  In  the  first  year 
of  Henry's  reign,  a  conspiracy,  headed  by  the  Earl  of  Salisbury, 
their  leader,  had  been  discovered,  and  forthwith  crushed,  Salis- 
bury himself  being  beheaded  ;*  but  the  Lollards  were  not  dis- 
couraged. The  bloody  head,  borne  aloft,  was  escorted  into 
London  by  a  procession  of  abbots  and  bishops,  who  had  gone 
out,  singing  psalms  of  thanksgiving,  to  meet  it,  but  the  leader- 
ship of  the  party  was  calmly  transferred  to  Sir  John  Oldcastle, 
Lord  Cobham,  one  of  the  greatest  soldiers  of  the  day.  Fresh 
insurrections,  however,  natural  after  such  a  usurpation,  soon 
followed,  and  increased  Henry's  willingness  to  let  loose  the 
clergy  on  their  opponents.  The  times  were  becoming  more 
and  more  critical  for  the  Church,  and  demanded  vigorous  action 
in  its  defence.  In  1403  even  the  barons  proposed  to  the  king 
to  provide  funds  for  the  revolt  in  Wales,  by  seizing  the  money 
and  plate  of  the  richest  bishops,  and  the  year  after,  the  Com- 
mons, on  being  asked  for  a  fresh  grant,  repeated  the  same 
counsel,  alleging  that  they  could  pay  no  more  while  the 
bishops,  who  were  beyond  measure  rich,  refused  to  contribute 
anything  to  the  necessities  of  the  State.  In  both  cases  Arundel 
by  his  entreaties  turned  aside  the  danger,  but  it  was  not  for- 
gotten. Two  years  later,  in  1406,  he  sought  to  intimidate  Par- 
liament and  drive  it  to  a  fiercer  persecution  of  the  Reformers, 
by  hinting  that  as  the  temporalities  of  the  bishops  were 
threatened  now,  those  of  laymen  also  would  soon  be  invaded. 
But  the  Commons  refused  to  be  alarmed.  Pestilence  presently 
added  itself  to  the  misery  of  the  times,  but  in  the  midst  of 
plague,  famine,  and  civil  war,  the  Church  thought  of  its  worldly 
interests  so  supremely  as  to  pass  canons  in  Convocation  urging 
the  fiercest  persecution  of  its  opponents. 

The  whole  of  Christendom,  however,  was  now  full  of  the 
ecclesiastical  scandals  of  the  day.    Since  1378  the  Great  Schism 

'  Jan.  6,  1400. 


58  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1409. 

had  shown  two  Popes  anathematizing  each  other  with  all  the 
curses  at  their  command.  A  spectacle  so  shocking,  added  to 
the  abuses  and  corruption  already  monstrous,  had  at  last  roused 
even  kings  to  demand  reform,  and  hence  a  Council  was  sum- 
moned, in  1409,  at  Pisa,  but  its  members  were  soon  obliged  to 
acknowledge  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  improvement  while 
a  Pope  was  in  power.^  Their  first  act  had  been  to  depose  both 
the  reigning  Popes,  and  to  elect  another,  pledged  to  reform ; 
but  once  elected,  he  either  could  or  would  do  nothing.  The 
University  of  Oxford,  still  true  to  Wycliffe's  influence,  had  its 
delegates  at  Pisa,  to  help  forward  reforms  specially  wished  in 
England.  Pluralities  held  both  by  bishops  and  clergy,  and  often 
even  by  Italians  ignorant  of  the  language ;  the  exemption  of 
the  monks  from  episcopal  control;  the  Pope's  dispensations 
for  non-residence  and  pluralities,  and  the  bribery  and  evasion  of 
justice  resiilting  from  the  enforcement  of  appeals  to  Rome, 
were  among  the  abuses  to  be  remedied.  But  the  deputies  had 
to  return  without  success.  Even  the  Schism  was  made  worse, 
rather  than  removed,  for  the  two  deposed  Popes  would  not 
resign,  and,  by  the  election  of  another,  there  were  now  three.'' 

Such  anarchy  at  Rome,  and  such  universal  confession  of  in- 
tolerable corruption  everywhere,  encouraged  the  Lollards  both 
in  and  out  of  Parliament.  Scarcely  was  the  failure  of  the 
Covuicil  at  Pisa  known,  before  the  Commons  petitioned  for  a 
repeal,  or  at  least  a  mitigation,  of  the  statute  against  heretics, 
but  Henry  was  too  much  in  the  power  of  the  Church  to  humour 
them,  and  vindicated  his  loyalty  to  the  bishops  by  letting  them 
bum  a  poor  man  at  Smithfield.  Indignant  at  this  renewed  out- 
rage, the  Commons  refused  to  grant  him,  except  for  a  year  at  a 
time,  a  subsidy  he  demanded  in  perpetuity.  Nor  were  they 
turned  from  their  hostility  to  the  Church,  but  tried  for  a  third 
time  to  pass  Sir  John  Oldcastle's  bill  for  taking  its  excess  of 
property  for  the  uses  of  the  State. 

'  Gieseler,  iv.  279.  «  Gregory  XII.  1406— 1417.     Benedict 

XIII.  1394— 1424.     Alexander  V.  1409 — 141a 


A.D.  I4I4-] 


The  Lollards.  59 


Under  Henry  V.  (1413 — 1422),  the  Church  was  at  last  to 
triumph.  It  was  imperative  that  Lollardism  should  be  stamped 
out,  if  reform  was  to  be  refused.  The  world  would  move  in  spite 
of  the  priests.  Paper-mills  had  been  busy  in  Germany  since 
1390,  making  the  multiplication  of  heretical  books  the  easier.  By 
land  and  sea  the  mind  was  astir.  The  Canary  Islands  had  been 
discovered  as  long  ago  as  1395.  Teachers  from  Constantinople* 
were  revealing  the  treasures  of  ancient  Greek  literature,  with  its 
lessons  of  liberty,  and  John  Huss  had  been  teaching  the 
doctrines  of  Wycliffe,  in  Bohemia,  since  1398.  A  young  king, 
pledged  to  the  Church,  as  the  son  of  a  usurper  whom  the  clergy 
alone  cordially  supported,  had  mounted  the  throne  of  England, 
and  at  any  cost  the  bishops  would  use  him  to  crush  the  new 
opinions. 

Their  first  attack  was  on  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  Lord  Cobham, 
the  leader  of  the  Reformers,  whom  they  persuaded  Henry  to 
arrest  in  his  castle  and  throw  into  the  Tower.  Arundel  hated 
him  as  a  pupil  of  Wycliffe,  a  receiver  of  the  New  Light,  and  a 
protector  of  poor  Lollards ;  as  one  who  despised  monks  and 
friars,  read  the  Bible  on  his  knees,  and  drew  from  it  a  con- 
demnation of  many  things  taught  by  the  Church.  Moreover, 
he  had  set  his  face  against  the  new  policy  introduced  by  the 
primate  from  Spain,  of  burning  men  alive  for  their  opinions. 
He  was,  besides,  a  friend  of  free  inquiry.  To  have  him  arrested 
was  to  secure  his  being  sent  to  the  stake.  Forthwith  Arundel 
decided  that  he  was  an  obstinate  heretic,  and  handed  him  over 
to  the  civil  power,  to  be  burned  in  due  course.  But  in  a  re- 
spite of  fifty  days,  granted  him  by  Henry  as  a  personal  friend, 
he  managed  to  escape,  and  fled  to  Wales,  where  he  lay  hid  till 
1418. 

The  danger  of  the  leading  Reformer  was  to  be  the  ruin  of 
the  cause.  The  report  was  raised  that  the  Lollards  had  begun 
to  plot  the  death  of  the  king,  and  it  was  added  that  25,000 

*  Chrysolaus,  1395 — 1415. 


6o       "  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1418. 

were  to  meet  in  the  fields  of  St.  Giles,  under  the  command  of 
Sir  John  Oldcastle,  as  the  beginning  of  a  general  rising.  The 
whole  story  had  apparently  risen  from  some  meetings  held  to 
petition  for  the  mitigation  of  the  penal  laws  under  which  they 
suffered.  At  midnight  on  the  14th  January,  1414,  some  months 
after  Henry's  accession,  he  set  out  with  a  great  force  to  en- 
counter the  army  of  insurgents,  but  found  only  a  gathering  of 
about  eighty  persons  at  one  spot,  and  a  few  more  at  another. 
Many  of  these  were  killed,  many  other  known  Lollards  in 
London  arrested,  and  thirty-nine  of  them  put  to  death. 

Meanwhile  Arundel  was  called  to  his  account  (1414),  and  was 
succeeded  by  Chicheley  (1414 — 1443) — ^  Carthusian  monk — 
who  at  last  succeeded  in  putting  off  the  Reformation  for  more 
than  a  century.  His  first  care  was  to  secure  fresh  helps  to  hunt 
down  the  Lollards.  By  his  influence  a  new  statute  was  pro- 
cured from  the  King's  Council — apparently  without  the  con- 
currence of  the  Commons — giving  judges  and  magistrates 
power  to  arrest  all  persons  suspected  of  belonging  to  them, 
binding  them  by  oath  to  do  their  utmost  to  uproot  the  heresy, 
and  enacting  that  offenders  should  suffer  confiscation  of  goods 
and  lands  to  the  king,  and  death  by  fire.  Four  years  after, 
while  Henry  was  in  France,  the  vengeance  of  the  bishops  and 
clergy  at  last  fell  on  Oldcastle.  Having  been  taken  by  treachery 
in  141 8,  the  Archbishop  and  his  Provincial  Synod  had  the  satis- 
faction of  declaring  him  an  incorrigible  heretic,  and  of  hanging 
him  in  chains  over  a  slow  fire  till  he  was  roasted  to  death.  But 
the  people  revered  his  memory  as  the  "  Good  Lord  Cobham," 
and  Shakspeare  recorded  his  opinion  of  him  that  "  Oldcastle 
died  a  martyr." 

Chicheley  had  done  good  work  for  the  Church  before  this 
crowning  triumph.  It  seemed  doubtful  if  the  most  relentless 
persecution  would  succeed  in  stopping  the  general  demand  for 
a  Reformation,  and  Lollardism  threatened  not  only  to  survive, 
but  to  spread.  If  the  young  king  could  but  be  led  into  a 
foreign  war,  it  would  divert  the  attention  of  the  people  from 


A.D.  I4l8.] 


The  Lollards.  6 1 


domestic  questions,  and  secure  the  Church  at  least  a  respite. 
Unjust  claims  on  the  throne  of  France  were  therefore  invented, 
and  urged  on  the  king  by  the  Primate  and  his  party.  Shaks- 
peare,  borrowing  from  the  chronicles  of  Hall  and  Holinshed, 
has  kept  the  crime  from  ever  being  forgotten.^  The  Commons 
had  introduced  once  more  the  old  bill,  the  terror  of  the  bishops, 
to  empower  the  king  to  appropriate,  for  national  uses,  the  super- 
fluous wealth  of  the  Church,  or,  as  Hall  puts  it,  "  of  the  tem- 
poral lands  devoutly  given  and  disordinately  spent  by  religious 
and  other  spiritual  persons."  "This  bill,"  he  adds,  "was  much 
noted  and  feared  amongst  the  religious  sorts,  whom,  in  effect,  it 
much  touched;  insomuch  that  the  fat  abbots  sweated,  the  proud 
priors  frowned,  and  the  poor  friars  cursed." 

Chicheley  only  too  skilfully  fanned  the  warlike  spirit  of  the 
king  till  l^  succeeded  in  launching  England  on  a  war 
which  lasted  for  thirty-eight  years  and  brought  untold  miseries 
on  the  nation.  But  it  served  the  ends  of  the  Church,  and  left 
it  unreformed  for  over  a  hundred  years,  for  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses  sprang  from  it,  and  immediately  followed  it  for  thirty- 
two  years  more. 

Henry  crossed  to  France  in  August,  141 5,  and  the  magni- 
ficent victory  of  Agincourt  on  the  25th  October  diverted  the 
thoughts  of  the  country  from  anything  but  militarj'  glory.  The 
Church,  however,  kept  steady  to  its  purpose  of  crushing  the 
Reformers.  Chicheley  had  a  poor  furrier  brought  before  him 
exactly  a  week  after  Henr}'  had  sailed  for  France,^  and  having 
failed  to  get  him  to  recant  had  him  burned  at  Smithfield. 
Next  year  (1416)  he  issued  a  Constitution  requiring  strict  search 
for  all  Lollards,  or  persons  suspected  of  being  so,  and  great 
numbers  were  thrown  into  prison — the  goods,  lands,  and  pro- 
perty of  all  who  were  convicted,  being  confiscated.  So  things 
went  on  till  Lord  Cobham's  martyrdom,  two  years  later.     The 

•  Henry  V.,  Act  I,  Scene  i. 

'He  sailed  on  Aug.  loth  from  Southampton.  Claydon  was  bmned  on 
the  17th. 


62  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1414. 

king's  absence  left  the  Church  free  to  persecute  the  new  opinions 
to  the  death,  and  it  did  it  eagerly.  The  ecclesiastical  annals 
of  the  last  years  of  Henry's  reign  record  hardly  anything  but  the 
trials  of  heretics.* 

Yet  the  Church  was  more  than  ever  in  need  of  sweeping 
reform.  The  Council  of  Pisa,  in  1409,  had  ended  in  failure. 
Alexander  V.,  the  Pope  it  had  elected  instead  of  the  two  it  had 
deposed  but  could  not  get  to  resign,  died  the  next  year,  poisoned, 
as  was  believed,  by  the  Cardinal  Balthazar  Cossa — an  ex-pirate 
— ^who  wished  to  succeed  him.  This  he  now  did,  under  the 
name  of  John  XXIII. — a  name  which  has  left  a  stain  even  on  the 
dark  annals  of  the  Papacy.  No  crime  could  be  too  dreadful  to 
lay  justly  to  his  charge.  For  seven  years  he  shocked  Christen- 
dom by  the  spectacle  of  an  infallible  head  of  the  Church  openly 
accused  of  perjury,  simony,  adultery,  incest,  plunder  of  the 
Church,  and  of  such  a  life  every  way,  to  use  the  words  of  the 
Council  of  Constance,  as  "  openly  scandalized  Christen- 
dom."^ For  the  time,  however,  he  was  its  official  head,  and 
found  himself  forced,  sorely  against  his  will,  by  the  demands 
from  every  government  in  turn,  to  summon  another  General 
Council  at  Constance  in  November,  141 4.  Henry  had  acted  so 
far  independently  as  to  order  the  University  of  Oxford  to  draw 
up  a  list  of  abuses  the  removal  of  which  was  then  to  be  de- 
manded, and  this  they  did  in  forty-six  articles,  of  which  two 
may  serve  as  a  sample  of  the  rest.  The  one  was,  that  the 
clergy  confiscated  to  themselves  all  the  goods  of  any  Jew  they 
forced  to  submit  to  baptism,  and  the  other  that  the  debauched 
lives  of  the  clergy  and  their  public  impurity  were  never  punished 
by  the  bishops  except  by  a  small  fine.  "It  would,  therefore,  be 
well,"  it  was  added,  "if  priests  of  every  rank  and  order,  known 
for  their  lewdness,  were  required  to  abstain  from  saying  mass 
for  a  short  time."  A  deputation  from  Oxford,  still  true  in  a 
measure  to  the  teaching  of  Wycliffe,  attended  the  Council  in 

'  Wilkin.,  Concil.,  390—417. 

*  Sentence  ol  deposition  by  the  Council,  in  Gieseler  iv.  298. 


Aj)!  H15.]  The  Lollards.  63 

due  course,  but  that  body  had  other  work  on  its  hands  than 
reformation. 

A  frightful  charge  against  the  Pope,  which  he  did  not  attempt 
to  deny,  led  to  his  deposition  in  the  end  of  May,  141 5.  The 
object  of  the  Council  was  to  get  both  him  and  the  two  other 
Popes  out  of  the  way,  and  by  electing  a  fourth,  to  close  the 
Great  Schism  which  outraged  Christendom.  Gregory  XII.,  an 
old  man  of  over  eighty,  resigned  in  July,  but  Benedict  XIII., 
though  deposed  two  years  later,  clung  to  his  office  till  he  died 
in  1424. 

This  attempted  removal  of  a  scandal  which  was  under- 
mining the  Church  was,  however,  varied  by  more  agreeable 
occupations.  The  habit  of  the  age  for  students  to  pass  from 
one  university  to  another,  over  Europe,  had  carried  the  books 
and  opinions  of  Wycliffe  to  Prague,  and  the  marriage  between 
Richard  II.  and  Anne  of  Bohemia,  by  bringing  Bohemians  to 
England,  had  further  spread  both,  when  these  returned  to  their 
own  country.  Of  some  of  the  books,  a  priest,  named  John  Huss, 
confessor  to  the  wife  of  the  Emperor,  the  "good  Queen  Anne's" 
sister,  got  possession,  and  they  made  him  a  Wycliffite.  Orga- 
nizing travelling  preachers,  as  the  English  Reformer  had  done, 
he  soon  raised  a  strong  feeling  in  Bohemia  against  the  iniquities 
of  Rome.  Unfortunately  for  himself  he  was  persuaded  to  go  to 
the  Council  of  Constance,  trusting  to  a  written  safeguard  from 
the  Emperor  Sigismund,  and  a  certificate  from  the  Inquisitor- 
General  of  Heresy  in  Bohemia,  that,  as  far  as  he,  the  Inquisitor 
knew,  he  had  not  impugned  any  article  of  the  Christian  faith. 
But,  like  Wycliffe,  he  had  dared  to  believe  that  liberty  of  con- 
science was  a  universal  right.  He  had  come  with  joy  on  the 
imperial  pledge  of  a  fair  hearing,  and  of  a  safe  return  to 
Bohemia,  but  Sigismund  basely  broke  his  oath,  and  Huss  was 
almost  at  once  arrested,  and  forced  to  defend  his  life  before  the 
Council,  by  which  he  was  soon  after  condemned.  Looking  at 
the  Emperor  as  the  sentence  was  delivered,  a  blush  which  has 
passed  into  a  proverb  reddened  the  cheeks  of  the  perjured 


64  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1415, 

monarch,  though  in  order  to  satisfy  him  for  his  breach  of  his 
safe  conduct,  the  Council  had  issued  the  shameless  decree,  that 
no  faith  should  be  kept  with  a  heretic.  It  was  the  6th  of  July, 
three  months  before  the  Battle  of  Agincourt,  and  the  same  day 
saw  him  led  to  the  stake.  From  among  the  faggots  rose  a 
steady  hymn  of  trust  in  God,  till  the  smoke  and  flames  choked 
the  firm  voice,  and  concealed  the  singer  from  the  people.  Ten 
months  after,  the  Council  added  Jerome  of  Prague,  the  friend  of 
Huss,  to  the  number  of  martyrs.  He  was  burned  in  May, 
1416. 

It  was  not  enough,  however,  for  the  Church  to  condemn  and 
bum  the  living :  vengeance  must  be  wreaked  on  the  dead.  As 
far  back  as  141 2,  Arundel  had  forced  the  University  of  Oxford 
to  examine  and  condemn  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  and  it  had 
consequently  extracted  no  fewer  than  267.  propositions  from 
them,  which  were  declared  to  be  partly  heretical,  partly 
erroneous.  These  were  sent  to  the  Archbishop,  who  forwarded 
them  to  the  Pope,  asking  their  official  condemnation,  and 
craving  permission  to  exhume  the  body  of  the  Reformer,  and 
cast  it  on  a  dunghill,  to  be  trampled  under  foot.  But  it  might 
have  been  dangerous,  as  yet,  to  have  roused  public  feeling  by 
any  outrage  on  the  dead  body  of  the  great  teacher ;  and  only 
his  doctrines  were  for  the  time  condemned. 

The  Council  of  Constance,  however,  had  no  such  scruples. 
In  its  eighth  sitting  (4th  May,  141 5)  it  declared  the  great 
Englishman  a  heretic ;  condemned  forty-five  articles  from  his 
writings,  and  ordered  his  books  to  be  burned,  and  his  bones 
dug  up  and  cast  far  from  consecrated  ground.  This  last  com- 
mand, however,  remained  unfulfilled  for  twelve  years  more, 
when  the  Pope  (Martin  V.)  ordered  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  to 
carry  it  out.  This  he  did  the  next  year.  After  the  honoured 
remains  had  lain  forty-four  years  under  the  choir  at  Lutter- 
worth they  were  dug  up,  and  having  been  burned,  were  scattered 
on  the  waters  of  the  neighbouring  Swift.  But,  as  Thomas 
Fuller  says,  the  Swift  conveyed  them  to  the  Avon,  the  Avon 


A.D.  I4I5.1  The  Lollards.  65 

into  the  Severn,  the  Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  and  they  into 
the  main  ocean !  The  liberty  of  the  human  soul  for  which 
Wycliffe  had  lived,  was  only  furthered  by  the  attempts  of  its 
enemies  to  crush  it. 

How  thoroughly  Christendom  had  by  this  time  been  roused 
to  demand  reform  was  seen  at  Constance.  Gerson,  Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Paris,  though  a  keen  opponent  of 
"  heretics,"  was  intent  on  abating  some,  at  least,  of  the  most 
notorious  abuses  in  the  Church.  "  A  Pope,"  said  he,  "  is  a  man 
descended  from  men,  earth  from  earth,  a  sinner,  and  subject  to 
sin.  A  few  days  ago  the  son  of  a  poor  peasant,  he  is  exalted 
to  the  Papal  chair.  Does  such  an  one  become  a  sinless  man, 
a  saint,  without  the  least  repentance  for  his  sins,  without  con- 
fessing them,  without  contrition  of  heart  ?  Who  has  made  him 
a  saint  ?  Not  the  Holy  Ghost ;  for  it  is  not  dignity  of  station 
that  brings  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  the  grace  of 
God,  and  love ;  not  the  authority  of  the  office,  for  it  may  be 
enjoyed  by  bad  men  as  well  as  good."  "  Where,"  he  went  on, 
"  will  you  find  charity  in  a  Pope  ?  At  the  Roman  court  the 
daily  talk  is  of  castles,  of  territorial  domains,  of  the  different 
kinds  of  weapons,  of  gold ;  but  seldom  or  never  of  chastity, 
alms,  righteousness,  faith,  or  holy  manners :  so  that  the  court, 
once  a  spiritual  one,  has  become  a  secular,  devilish,  tyrannical 
court,  and  worse  in  manners  and  civil  transactions  than  any 
other."  No  wonder  that,  under  the  influence  of  Gerson,  then 
the  foremost  Churchman  in  Europe,  and  a  man  so  devout 
that  the  authorship  of  the  famous  Imitation  of  Christ  has  been 
widely  ascribed  to  him,  the  Council  declared  itself  above  the 
Papacy. 


%. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  REFORMATION. 

WITH  the  death  of  Henry  V.,  in  1423,  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  England  may  be  said  to  have  slept  till  the 
close  of  the  century  ;  for  foreign  and  domestic  strife  in  succes- 
sion left  the  Church  to  go  on  its  way  undisturbed,  and  under 
its  blighting  shade  the  soft  spring  green  of  reformation 
gradually  withered  away,  though  the  roots  were  still  quick  in 
the  soil. 

The  Great  Schism  had  for  the  time  humbled  the  Papacy,  but 
with  the  election  of  Martin  V.,  in  141 7,  its  most  intolerable 
claims  were  revived.  Yet  it  never  regained  its  lost  position.  On 
the  continent,  as  well  as  in  England,  its  demands  for  jurisdiction 
over  secular  affairs  were  challenged,  and  ecclesiastics  were  not 
seldom  brought  before  lay  tribunals ;  the  interference  of  the 
Church  courts  of  Rome  with  the  affairs  of  other  nations  was 
prohibited,  and  the  decrees  of  Pope  and  clergy,  alike,  were  often 
examined  before  their  publication  was  allowed.  Nor  was  the 
accumulation  of  Church  property  allowed  to  go  unchecked. 
The  Free  Towns,  and  many  princes,  followed  the  example  of 
England,  and  either  forbade  it,  or  required  legal  sanction  for 
each  acquisition. 

In  England,  a  desperate  attempt  was  early  made  by  the 
revived  Papacy  to  get  at  the  national  wealth  once  more,  by  pro- 
curing   the  abolition  of    the  law  of    Premunire.     Chicheley, 


A.D.  I43I.]  The  Church  before  the  Reformation.  67 

attended  by  the  other  bishops,  went  in  person  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  with  tears  and  prayers  entreated  them  to  repeal 
an  Act  so  obnoxious  to  the  Pope ;  but  they  knew  too  well  the 
object,  and  would  not  listen  to  the  request.  To  have  done  so 
would  have  enabled  the  Roman  priests  once  more  to  have  sold 
the  presentations  to  all  the  benefices  of  the  kingdom  for  their 
own  profit,  or  to  have  filled  them  with  absentee  Italians. 

The  suppression  of  WycliflSsm  in  Bohemia  was  not  an  easy 
task.  The  Council  of  Constance  issued  instructions  to  put  it 
down  by  civil  war,  and  the  Pope,  in  1420,  supplemented  these 
by  proclaiming  a  crusade  against  the  Reformers,  which  he 
repeated  in  1428  and  1429;  and  monthly  processions  were 
ordered  in  England  and  other  countries,  to  draw  down  divine 
vengeance  on  the  offenders  and  gain  recruits,  the  tempting 
bounty  being  offered  of  pardon  of  all  sins  to  any  who  died  in 
this  holy  cause. 

Meanwhile,  the  Pope,  sorely  against  his  will,  was  at  last  com- 
pelled by  public  opinion  to  summon  a  new  council  at  Basle,  in 
1 43 1,  to  reform  the  Church.  But,  before  it  met,  he  died,  and 
his  successor,  Eugenius  IV.,  marked  his  estimate  of  his  charac- 
ter by  making  war  on  his  family,  and  compelling  them  to 
disgorge  the  Church  lands  and  Church  moneys  they  had  received 
from  him.  To  the  indignation  of  the  new  Pope,  the  Coun- 
cil had  no  sooner  met  than  it  renewed  the  decrees  of  the 
Council  of  Constance,  setting  itself  above  him,  and  summoned 
him  and  his  Cardinals  to  attend  it.  On  his  refusing,  judicial 
proceedings  were  begun  against  him,  and  after  this,  he  yielded 
in  every  point.  All  the  claims  of  the  Papacy  and  the  Roman 
Court  to  receive  benefices  and  churches  for  themselves  and  to 
extort  money  from  the  clergy  were  abolished.  Diocesan  and 
Provincial  Synods  were  ordained ;  frivolous  appeals  were  made 
illegal;  the  rash  use  of  Interdict  was  forbidden  and  annates* 
were  suppressed. 

'  The  first  year's  income  of  all  benefices,  which  the  cormorants  at  Rome 
claimed. 


68  The  English  Refortnation.  [a.d.  1450. 

Rome,  however,  would  not  surrender  its  shameful  revenues 
without  a  struggle,  and  threatened  to  remove  the  Council  to 
Italy,  where  it  could  be  controlled.  It  answered  by  an  impeach- 
ment ;  on  which  the  Pope  declared  it  removed  to  Ferrara,  but 
the  Fathers  met  this  by  pronouncing  him  suspended,  and  by 
deposing  him  two  years  later,  and  electing  another  Pope, 
Felix  V.  Europe,  however,  had  suffered  too  much  by  the  Great 
Schism  to  encourage  its  renewal,  and  the  Council  lost  so  much 
weight  by  its  schismatic  action,  that  ic  henceforth  dwindled  in 
numbers  till  it  virtually  ended  in  1443.  To  have  nothing  more 
to  do  with  Councils  became  the  watchword  at  Rome,  and  its 
policy  summed  itself  up  year  after  year,  in  stealthily  trying  to  win 
back  all  that  they  had  taken  from  it.   • 

In  England,  during  these  years,  the  persecution  of  the 
Reformers  still  raged.  Henry  V.  had  left  a  boy  of  nine  months 
his  heir,  and  the  government  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  a 
council  of  lords  and  churchmen.  Lollardism  had  kept  the 
Church  in  fear  of  losing  its  temporalities,  and  such  treason 
must  be  suppressed  at  any  cost.  In  the  year  when  the  Council 
were  gathering  at  Basle  (1431),  the  Wycliffites  was  still  so 
strong  that  bands  of  soldiers  were  sent  hither  and  thither  to 
put  them  down  wherever  they  could  be  found.  The  barons  no 
longer  endangered  the  treasures  of  the  bishops,  for  they  found 
gold  and  plunder  to  their  content,  in  sacking  the  towns  of  France, 
and  in  the  ransom  of  prisoners.  Hence,  if  Reform  were  once 
crushed,  the  Church  might  breathe  freely.  The  year  1 433,  there- 
fore, saw  more  burnings  at  Smithfield ;  numbers  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  for  life  ;  others  publicly  whipped,  and  still  others 
punished  in  different  ways.  Henceforth,  the  Lollards  drew  back 
into  concealment,  and  were  httle  heard  of  till  the  Reformation. 
Terror  had  done  its  work  for  the  time  so  thoroughly,  that  in  Jack 
Cade's  revolt  of  the  peasantry,  once  more,  against  serfdom,  in 
1450.  nothing  at  all  was  said  of  religious  reform.  Still,  evan- 
gelical reUgion  was  not  extinct,  but  once  and  again  burst  out 
like  suppressed  fire. 


A.0. 1443— «465]  The  Church  before  the  Reformation.  69 

Chicheley's  long  reign  as  primate  ended  in  1443.  He  had 
saved  the  wealth  of  the  Church,  and  had  given  its  abuses  a  new 
lease  of  life,  but  it  had  been  by  the  terrible  crime  of  stirring  up 
a  war  which  demoralized  England  for  generations,  and  filled 
the  land  with  misery.  All  Souls'  College,  at  Oxford,  founded 
in  part  from  funds  obtained  by  the  dissolution  of  some  foreign 
priories,  and  partly  at  his  own  cost,  retnained  as  a  vain  attempt 
to  atone  for  his  offence.  It  served,  however,  one  end  he  little 
anticipated.  A  century  later  its  origin  was  cited  in  vindication 
of  going  farther  in  the  same  direction,  by  dissolving  the  mon- 
asteries as  a  whole. 

The  sturdy  English  spirit  remained  still  erect,  though  the 
Church  had  its  outward  triumph.  In  1465  an  unfortunate  who 
had  been  excommunicated  appealed  to  the  civil  judges.  Brought 
before  them,  from  the  Archbishop's  prison,  the  court  decided 
that  he  was  not  guilty  of  heresy  by  law,  and  set  him  free.  In 
the  early  stages  of  European  history  the  reign  of  the  Church 
had  ser\'ed  a  great  end  in  providence  by  inspiring  hitherto 
barbarous  tribes  with  the  common  influences  of  a  great  politico- 
religious  State.  It  had  given  them  much  in  common,  in 
politics,  religion,  maimers,  social  life,  and  literature.  But  the 
progress  of  mankind  had  gradually  brought  national  feeling 
into  play,  and  everywhere  excited  resistance  to  encroachments 
on  the  independence  of  the  separate  states,  from  whatever 
source.  The  Papacy,  still  seeking  to  interfere  and  dominate  in 
all  things,  found  itself  more  and  more  opposed  in  every  part  of 
Christendom,  and  this  sign  of  independence  in  the  English 
courts  was  but  an  illustration  of  the  general  tendency  of  the 
age.* 

The  Papal  claim  that  all  Christendom  was  so  wholly  subject 
to  the  Pope  that  he  might  tax  it  at  his  pleasure  had  been 
revived  in  these  years,  but  met  a  stem  dismissal  when  attempted 
to  be  imposed  on  England.      In  1447,  Eugenius  IV.,  flouting 


^  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes,  L  24. 


70  The  English  Reformation.         [ad.  us3-i485. 

the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  demanded  a  tenth  from 
all  English  benefices,  and  sent  a  golden  rose  to  Henry  VI.  to 
bribe  him  to  help,  but  he  lost  the  rose  and  did  not  get  the 
money.  In  1453,  Constantinople  had  been  taken  by  the 
Turkish  barbarian,  and  the  calamity  promised  to  be  a  mine  of 
wealth  to  the  Roman  court.  Ten  years  after  it,  Pius  II.— one 
of  whose  letters  commending  his  illegitimate  son  to  his  father's 
care  was  recently  read  at  the  Antonelli  trial  at  Rome — fancied 
he  could  get  the  money  his  predecessor  had  failed  to  obtain,  on 
pretence  that  it  was  to  be  spent  on  a  crusade  against  the  Turks. 
But  Edward  IV.,  slave  to  the  Church  as  he  was,  would  not  even 
let  the  Bull  be  published  in  England.  He  had,  as  he  thought, 
done  enough  already ;  for,  two  years  eariier,  to  get  the  Pope's 
support  to  his  unsteady  throne,  he  had  granted  him,  without 
getting  the  consent  of  Parliament,  the  repeal  of  the  statute  of 
premunire,  which  had  been  upheld  by  generation  after  genera- 
tion of  English  kings  and  statesmen.  Still  more,  he  had  given 
the  clergy  a  charter  freeing  them  from  responsibility  to  the 
civil  courts.  Rome  had  apparently  snatched  a  long-delayed 
victory,  but  it  was  speedily  to  repent  its  selfish  pertinacity.  The 
short  reign  of  Richard  III.  was  to  be  almost  the  end  of  its  glory. 
The  corruption  of  the  Church  over  all  Christendom,  seen  more 
and  more  clearly  by  the  kindling  intelligence  of  mankind,  was 
hastening  its  ruin  through  the  whole  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

"  Some  years  before  the  rise  of  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic 
heresy,"  says  Cardinal  Bellarmin,  "  according  to  the  testimony 
of  those  who  were  then  living,  there  was  an  almost  entire 
abandonment  of  equity  in  the  ecclesiastical  judgments,  no 
discipline  in  morals,  no  erudition  in  sacred  literature,  no  reve- 
rence in  divine  things  :  religion  was  almost  extinct."  ^  Hence 
the  cry  for  reformation  was  echoed  and  re-echoed  over  Europe. 
The  Abbot  of  Spanheim,  about  1485,  describes  the  clergy  as 
ignorant,  rude,  and  murdering  the  sheep  of  Christ  by  their 


Concio  xxviil,  opp.  vi.  296,  ed.  161 7. 


A.D.  1443]  TJu  Church  before  the  Reformation.  y  l 

infamous  morals.  "  No  holiness  of  life,"  he  writes,  "  no  educa- 
tion, no  purity,  is  now  required  of  candidates  for  ordination. 
The  priests  sit  drinking  in  taverns,  or  spend  their  time  in 
amusement  and  eating.  How  many  errors,  fables,  and  heresies 
they  tell  the  people  in  their  preaching,  who  could  suppose  that 
did  not  know !  Instead  of  books  they  beget  children,  instead 
of  study  they  seek  concubines.  The  bishops  are  little  better. 
They  have  either  no  copies  of  Scripture,  or  few,  for  they  hate 
knowledge.  They  are  set  only  on  heaping  up  wealth.  Let  not 
the  priests  wonder  if  the  laity  despise  them,  since  they  them- 
selves despise  the  commands  of  Christ.  I  fear  greatly  that 
worse  times  will  come  for  the  clergy  ere  long." 

The  unchastity  of  the  ecclesiastics  as  a  body  seemed  only  to 
increase  in  proportion  as  it  was  assailed.  The  Councils  of 
Constance  and  Basle  failed  to  secure  even  outward  propriety  in 
a  large  number  of  their  members.  "  Look  with  your  own 
eyes,"  cried  a  speaker  at  Constance,  "at  the  clergy  of  the 
Roman  Curia,  who,  since  before  the  time  of  the  Great  Schism, 
have  borne  the  reputation  of  being  more  than  humanly  de- 
praved ;  look  at  the  clergy  of  this  diocese,  who  are  no  better ; 
aye,  look  at  the  clergy  of  this  very  town,  and  of  this  very 
Council  itself !  Have  they,  from  respect  to  this  reverend  synod, 
before  whose  eyes  they  live  daily,  even  in  the  least  amended 
their  profligate  lives  ?  The  clergy  from  Rome  keep  their 
mistresses  here,  openly  and  shamelessly,  before  all ;  they  sell 
justice  publicly,  and  are  foul  with  every  kind  of  moral  leprosy 
as  hitherto."  ^ 

The  licentiousness  of  the  clergy  was,  indeed,  so  open  and 
infamous  that  a  whole  literature  of  protests  against  it,  in  all 
parts  of  Christendom,  still  remains.  The  serious  lamented  it ; 
wits  made  it  the  butt  of  ironical  stories  and  biting  fables.  It 
was  impossible  to  punish  where  nearly  all  were  guilty,  and  the 
bishops  were  not  the  men,  in  that  age,  to  carry  out  discipline, 

*  Speech  of  Petros  de  Pulka,  Professor  at  Vienna.    Gieseler,  v.  9. 


72  The  English  Reformaiion.         [ad.  .443-1487- 

when  to  wink  at  it  might  be  made  profitable.  Hence,  after,  for 
a  time,  reaping  a  harvest  of  fines  for  clerical  lewdness,  they 
finally,  in  effect  licensed  it,  by  commuting  these  for  a  per- 
manent annual  tax  paid  by  the  mistresses  of  priests.'  The 
enforcement  of  celibacy  on  ecclesiastics  had  borne  its  fruits,  as 
in  previous  ages,  and  even  now,  when  Protestantism  is  not  at 
hand  to  watch  it. 

With  such  an  example  in  the  clergy,  the  immorality  of  the 
laity  increased,  till  hideous  diseases  broke  out  over  Europe  as  its 
result.'^  The  whole  tone  of  life,  indeed,  was  incredibly  low. 
Our  French  wars,  erelong,  degenerated  into  massacre  and 
brigandage.  Only  such  prisoners  as  could  pay  ransom  could 
hope  for  life,  and,  thus  an  English  privateer  writes  to  the 
Council  to  ask  whether  he  should  not  drown  the  crews  of  a 
hundred  merchant  vessels  he  had  taken.  The  incessant  wars ; 
the  hereditary  misery  of  the  lower  classes ;  the  sweeping  pesti- 
lences and  famines  which  so  often  recurred,  had  kept  the  popu- 
lation down  after  four  hundred  years  to  little  over  double  the 
two  millions  of  the  Conqueror's  day.^  Before  the  French  war, 
which  Chicheley  had  stirred  up  to  stave  off  reform  of  the  Church, 
was  ended,  both  England  and  France  were  so  much  exhausted 
that  they  could  hardly  bring  10,000  men  into  the  field  on  either 
side.  The  empire  left  by  Henry  V.  had  dwindled  from  a 
first  to  a  fifth-rate  power.  The  thirty  years  of  civil  war  that 
followed  the  French  wars  had  worn  out  the  country.  All  the 
French  conquests  were  lost  except  the  March  of  Calais,  and  a 
French  fleet  kept  the  English  coast  in  alarm. 

When  Henry  VII.  snatched  the  crown  at  Bosworth  Field,  in 
1487,  the  condition  of  England,  in  every  way,  was  to  the  last 
degree  wretched.     In  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  two  kings  had  been 

'  Gieseler,  v,  li.  *  The  Lustseuche,  unfortunately  known  since  in 

every  part  of  the  world.  It  is  an  inheritance  from  the  glorious  "  Catholic 
Ages,"  and  the  direct  result  of  the  immoral  example  of  the  Pre-reforma- 
tion  clergy.     Gieseler,  v.  13.  »  The  population  of  England  and  Wales 

was  estimated  even  in  1377  at  2,092,978:  in  1483  at  4,689,000. — Haydn's 
Diet,  of  Dales. 


A.D.  1S09.J         The  Church  before  the  Reformation.  73 

murdered  in  the  Tower,  ten  princes  slain  in  battle,  and  half  the 
peerage  had  perished.  The  towns  had  fallen  into  decay,  and 
land  went  a  begging  for  purchasers.  Tillage  had  been  neglected 
amidst  the  wide  anarchy,  and  the  peasants,  banded  in  great 
gangs,  roamed  the  country,  to  sell  their  services  to  either  side, 
and  filled  the  land  with  robbery  and  violence. 

Literature  had  died  out  in  the  general  chaos.  The  poets  of 
Henry  VIII. 's  day  were  not  yet  born,  and  those  that  had  fol- 
lowed Chaucer  were  long  forgotten.  Even  history  was  left 
without  a  better  chronicler  than  Robert  Fabyan,  of  the  Drapers' 
Company,  who  has  left  a  few  fragments  and  annals,  in  which 
his  day's  sales  are  set  down  as  of  equal  moment  with  the  story 
of  a  battle. 

But,  as  England  had  fallen  Rome  had  risen.  Amidst  the 
ruin  of  noble,  citizen,  and  peasant,  the  Church  had  continued 
to  prosper.  Superstition  was  too  timorous  to  lay  violent  hands 
on  anything  ecclesiastical.  A  castle  or  a  mansion  might  be 
sacked  and  burnt,  but  the  jewels  of  the  richest  shrines  in  church, 
cathedral,  or  convent,  were  safe,  without  a  bar  to  the  gates. 
The  Church  grew  daily  richer  while  misery  spread  like  a  flood 
over  the  land. 

Religion  still  lingered  in  households  like  those  of  the  Pastons, 
and  in  a  monkish  cell  or  chamber,  here  and  there,  but  it  had 
given  place,  as  a  rule,  to  the  most  debasing  superstition.  When 
Erasmus  was  in  England,  in  1 509,  he  reports  that  it  was  "  in- 
credible what  a  world  of  bones,  skulls,  chins,  teeth,  hands, 
fingers  and  whole  arms,"  were  preserved  as  sacred  relics  at 
Canterbury,  to  be  adored  and  kissed  by  the  innumerable  pilgrims 
to  the  shrine  of  Becket.  "  The  gold  and  silver  on  that  saint's 
altar,"  he  continues,  "  seemed  to  make  Croesus  a  beggar  in 
comparison."  In  the  vestry  the  pomp  of  silk  vestments  and  gold 
candlesticks  was  wonderful.  The  foot  of  Becket  was  shown,  in 
a  rod  of  silver  longer  than  to  a  man's  waist,  and  the  saint's 
whole  face,  set  in  gold,  and  adorned  with  jewels.  The  bones 
of  the  body  were  kept  by  themselves,  unseen,  but  a  chest  of 


74  The  Ejiglisk  Reformation.  [ad.  1509. 

gold  over  them— into  which  the  offerings  of  pilgrims  were 
put, — was  exhibited,  and  showed  wealth  beyond  computa- 
tion. Gold  was  the  meanest  part  of  it.  Everything  sparkled 
and  shone  with  very  large  and  scarce  jewels,  some  of  them 
larger  than  the  t%%  of  a  goose— the  gifts  of  kings  and 
nobles.  The  cover  being  taken  off,"  says  he,  "we  all 
worshipped."  A  black  leather  trunk  was  produced  and  opened, 
all  falling  down  in  reverence.  It  contained  rags  so  unin- 
viting that  on  the  prior  giving  Dean  Colet  or  Gratian  Pullen, 
a  secret  Wycliffite,  who  were  with  Erasmus,  a  present  of  a 
piece  of  one,  he  could  not  restrain  his  disgust,  and,  after  taking 
it  squeamishly  in  his  fingers,  laid  it  down  with  an  air  of  con- 
tempt, making  a  mocking  noise  with  his  lips  instead  of  a  reve- 
rential kiss. 

Another  visitor,  in  the  same  age,  leaves  us  a  fuller  inventory 
of  the  relics  shown  at  Canterbury  to  excite  the  faith  and  secure 
the  money  of  the  throngs  of  pilgrims.  He  saw  there  a  frag- 
ment of  the  robe  of  Christ ;  three  splinters  from  the  crown  of 
thorns  ;  a  lock  of  Mary's  hair ;  a  shoulder-blade  of  Simeon ;  a 
tooth  of  John  the  Baptist ;  blood  of  the  apostles  John  and 
Thomas ;  part  of  the  crosses  of  Peter  and  Andrew ;  a  tooth 
and  finger  of  St.  Stephen ;  some  hair  of  Mary  Magdalene ;  a 
lip  of  one  of  the  innocents  slain  by  Herod  the  Great ;  the  head 
of  Thomas  ^  Becket ;  a  leg  of  St.  George ;  the  bowels  of  St. 
Lawrence;  a  finger  of  St.  Urban;  a  tooth  of  St.  Benedict; 
bones  cf  St.  Clement;  bones  of  St.  Vincent;  bones  of  St. 
Catherine  the  Virgin  ;  a  leg  of  Mildred  the  Virgin  ;  and  a  leg 
of  a  virgin  saint  called  Recordia.  He  saw  besides,  in  the  clois- 
ter, a  fountain  which  flowed  at  times  with  water,  at  others  with 
milk,  and  at  still  others  with  blood.  It  had  been  five  times 
changed  to  blood,  and  just  before  his  visit  it  had  been  changed 
to  milk !» 

But  Canterbury,  with  its   throngs  of    pilgrims,  had  not  a 


*  Rozmital,  quoted  in  Dixon's  Two  Queens,  i.  124. 


A.D.  1509]  The  Church  before  the  Reformation.  75 

monopoly  of  wonders.  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  a  Norfolk 
village,  was  another  notable  shrine,  which  attracted  even  greater 
crowds  of  pilgrims;  and  of  this  also  we  have,  fortunately,  an 
account  by  Erasmus.  "  You  will  scarcely  find  anyone  in  the 
island,"  says  he,  "who  thinks  his  affairs  can  be  prosperous 
unless  he  yearly  make  some  present  to  that  Lady."  There  were 
different  chapels,  the  first  of  them  "  as  if  it  were  the  seat  of  all 
the  saints,  it  was  so  glittering  with  gold,  and  silver,  and  jewels." 
In  the  inner  chapel  a  canon  stood  to  receive  the  offerings.  At 
the  north  side  was  a  gate  in  the  wall,  with  a  very  small  wicket, 
and  through  this,  the  verger  said,  a  knight  on  horseback,  fleeing 
for  sanctuary,  escaped.  Praying  to  the  Virgin,  he  passed  at 
once,  on  horseback,  through  a  space  hardly  large  enough  to  let 
a  man  on  foot  enter !  A  picture  of  the  knight  and  his  horse 
on  a  plate  of  copper,  nailed  on  the  door,  attested  the  miracle  ! 
Another  chapel  was  also  full  of  wonders.  Among  others,  the 
middle  joint  of  one  of  St.  Peter's  fingers — "  large  enough  for 
a  giant " — was  shown.  There  was  also  a  house  before  the 
chapel,  that  had  been  brought  there,  on  a  sudden,  from  no  one 
knew  where,  and  under  it  two  wells,  which  were  said  to  have 
burst  suddenly  out  of  the  ground  at  the  command  of  the 
Virgin,  and  to  be  of  sovereign  efficacy  to  cure  pains  in  the  head 
and  stomach.  A  flask  of  the  milk  of  the  Virgin  was  shown, 
and  Erasmus  wonders  how  any  woman  who  never  had  but  one 
child  should  have  had  so  much  milk,  up  and  down  Christen- 
dom, "  though  her  child  had  never  sucked  a  drop."  He 
quietly  classes  the  fraud  with  that  of  the  relics  of  the  cross 
exhibited  everywhere  in  such  profusion  that  they  would  load 
a  ship  if  gathered  together.  Money  was  demanded  as 
each  relic  was  shown  in  the  different  chapels.  The  Virgin's 
milk,  here,  had  been  drawn  direct  from  her  breasts,  but  what 
was  shown  elsewhere,  he  was  told,  had  dropped  on  the 
stones  as  she  sat,  at  different  times,  and  had  been  scraped 
up  and  miraculously  multiplied  I  Statues  of  the  Virgin,  of 
gold    and    silver,  stood   in    another  part,  and  in   the  same 


76  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1460-1509. 

place  "  a  world  of  relics  which  he  could  not  even  name  in  a 
day."^ 

Such  was  the  religion  of  the  age  in  one  of  its  aspects.  Each 
shrine  had  its  letters  written  by  the  Virgin,  or  by  angels,  to 
support  the  gainful  impostures  exhibited.  As  Erasmus  and  his 
friends  rode  away  from  Canterbury,  some  friars  ran  out  of  a 
cottage  by  the  roadside,  and,  after  sprinkling  the  strangers  with 
holy  water,  held  up  a  piece  of  an  old  shoe  to  kiss — of  course 
for  money — as  that  of  St.  Thomas.  Everywhere  there  was  a 
fresh  imposture.  "There  is  so  much  superstition,"  writes 
James  the  Carthusian,  a  monk  of  the  end  of  the  century, 
"  there  are  so  many  of  the  worst  and  most  scandalous  practices 
in  the  churches,  as  well  of  the  secular  as  of  the  regular  clergy, 
that  all  religion  seems  well-nigh  choked,  as  if  the  enemy  of  souls 
had  sown  tares  over  the  wheat."  So  many  doubtful  saints  were 
added  to  the  calendar,  that  Cardinal  Bessarion^  declared  that  it 
made  him  doubt  the  truth  of  the  legends  transmitted  from 
antiquity  respecting  others.  A  monk  boldly  maintained  in  a 
sermon  in  1 509,  in  Vienna,  that  the  priests  did  not  show  true 
relics,  but  put  the  bones  of  beasts  in  their  reliquaries. 

The  amazing  inventions  in  vogue  as  the  staple  of  religious 
teaching  cannot  be  better  illustrated  than  by  quoting  one  or 
two  from  the  multitude  used  to  recommend  the  rosary  to  the 
faithful.  The  Roman  Church  is  especially  indebted  to  the 
"  Blessed  Alain  de  la  Roche,"  a  Dominican  friar,  for  that  con- 
trivance, and  certainly  no  one  could  have  been  more  fertile  in 
pious  fraud  to  introduce  it.  It  had  been  used  before,  but  had 
fallen  into  neglect,  when,  as  Alain  asserts,  the  Blessed  Virgin 
appeared  to  him  in  1460,  and  commanded  him  to  proclaim  that 
it  was  specially  dear  to  her ;  that  the  Hail  Mary  had,  in  the 
past,  emptied  hell  and  filled  heaven,  and  that  the  rosary,  which 

*  Erasmus'  Colloquies,  335—363.  First  published  surreptitiously  in 
1518,  but  by  Erasmus  himself  in  1522.  The  visit  to  Our  Lady  of 
Walsmgham  took  place,  apparently,  in  1505  or  1506,  on  the  second  visit  to 
^"g'^*^  *  Died  1472. 


A.D.  i46a]  The  Church  before  the  Reformation.  77 

was  composed  of  Hail  Marys,  was  that  by  which  the  world  must 
now  be  reformed.  With  that  she  hung  round  his  neck  a  rosary,  the 
string  of  which  was  made  of  her  own  heavenly  hair,  espoused 
him  with  a  ring  of  the  same  hair,  and  then  blessed  him  with  her 
virgin  lips,  and  fed  him  at  her  holy  bosom !  Such  was  one  of 
the  fables  as  to  the  origin  of  the  rosary, — let  me  quote  one  from 
thousands  used  to  extend  its  use.  A  Spanish  maiden  had  pro- 
vided herself  with  a  rosary,  after  hearing  St.  Dominic  preach  in 
its  favour,  and  told  her  beads  with  sufficient  regularity,  but 
showed  no  other  amendment  of  life.  Two  suitors  fought  for  her 
and  killed  each  other,  on  which  their  relations  seized  her,  cut 
ofE  her  head,  and  threw  it  into  a  well.  The  devils  took  pos- 
session of  her  soul,  supposing  they  had  a  right  to  it,  but  they 
were  wrong,  for,  by  having  used  the  rosary,  she  had  gained  such 
favour  with  the  Holy  Virgin,  that  her  soul  was  taken  from  them, 
and  allowed  to  live  in  the  head  till  she  could  be  confessed  and 
absolved.  Ere  long,  all  this  was  revealed  to  St.  Dominic,  who 
forthwith  repaired  to  the  well,  and  called  on  the  head  to  come 
up.  The  bloody  head  thereupon  came  up  and  perched  on  the 
well-side,  and  entreated  his  assistance,  saying  that  she  must  pass 
two  hundred  years  in  purgatory,  unless  he  and  the  Society  of  the 
Rosary  would  befriend  her  with  their  prayers.  Then  the  head 
made  confession,  was  absolved,  and  received  the  wafer,  after 
which  it  continued  to  preach  to  the  people  for  two  days.  These 
over,  it  died,  and  at  the  end  of  fifteen  days  the  soul  appeared  in 
glory  to  St.  Dominic,  and  thanked  him  for  having,  by  the  rosary, 
delivered  it  from  the  place  of  penance.^  What  ideas  of  religion 
must  have  been  prevalent,  when  the  worth  of  prayer  was  supposed 
to  lie  in  the  endless  mechanical  repetition  of  set  forms  and 
phrases ! 

The  lying  miracles,^  forged  relics,  and  unfounded  legends  of  the 
priests  were  bitterly  exposed  by  Erasmus  and  many  others,  but  the 

'  Quoted  by  Sonthey  from  Possadar.  Vindiciae  Ecclesite  Anglicanse,  483. 
*  bee  p.  73—77. 


78  TJie  English  Reformation,  [a.d.  1415- 

gross  ignorance  of  the  people  was  proof  against  erxlightenment. 
The  number  of  saints,  of  places  of  pilgrimage,  of  pious  frauds, 
and  monstrous  legends,  grew  constantly.  Bleeding  wafers  were 
often  exhibited,  and  boys  were  introduced  on  the  altar  as  heavenly 
visions.  Winking  statues  were  rife.  The  house  of  the  Virgin 
was  declared  to  have  been  carried  through  the  air  by  night,  from 
Nazareth  to  Loretto,  at  the  head  of  the  Adriatic,  and  it  has  ever 
since  been  a  most  remunerative  possession  to  its  holders.  "  The 
ignorant  masses,"  says  a  contemporary,'  "  worship  the  images  of 
stone,  or  of  wood,  or  marble,  or  brass,  or  painted  on  the  walls 
of  churches — not  as  statues  or  mere  figures,  but  as  if  they  were 
living,  and  trust  more  in  them  than  in  either  Christ  or  the  saints. 
Hence  they  offer  them  gold,  silver,  rings,  and  jewels  of  all  kinds, 
and  that  the  more  may  be  wheedled  into  doing  so,  those  who 
drive  this  trade  hang  medals  from  the  neck  or  arms  of  the  image, 
to  sell,  and  gather  the  gifts  they  receive  into  heaps  in  conspicuous 
places,  putting  labels  on  them  by  which  the  names  of  the  donors 
may  be  proclaimed.  By  all  this  a  great  part  of  the  world  is  put 
past  itself  about  these  images,  and  led  to  make  often  distant 
pilgrimages,  that  they  may  visit  some  little  figure  and  leave  their 
gifts  to  it ;  and  all  piety,  charity,  and  duty  is  neglected  to  do 
this,  in  the  belief  that  they  have  given  and  repented  enough  if 
they  have  put  gold  into  the  bag  at  the  shrine." 

That  the  state  of  the  Church  should  have  been  so  appalling 
was,  however,  only  the  natural  result  of  the  character  of  many 
of  its  popes  in  this  last  century  of  its  glory.  Alexander  V.  died 
within  ten  months  after  his  elevation,  as  it  was  generally  be- 
lieved, and  as  the  indictment  of  the  Council  of  Constance 
alleges,  poisoned  by  his  successor.  That  worthy,  John  XXIII., 
an  ex-pirate,  who  owed  his  election  to  threatenings  and  bribes, 
was  indicted  and  deposed  at  Constance  for  heresy,  perjury, 
simony,  adultery,  incest,  murder,  and  a  long  list  of  other  crimes,^ 
and  could  not  pretend  to  deny  that  he  was  guilty,  but  assented 

*  Polydore  Vergil  born  (?;  1475,  died  (?)  1555.  *  iSee  pige  62. 


A.D.  1415—1484.]  TJie  Church  before  the  Reformation.  79 

to  the  charges  as  just,  "  to  his  certain  knowledge."  No  wonder 
that  there  have  been  no  more  Johns  among  the  popes,  after  such 
a  monster  of  wickedness.  Yet,  after  this  public  conviction,  with 
all  his  fresh  and  flagrant  infamy  upon  him,  his  successor  made 
him  a  bishop  and  a  cardinal,  appointed  him  Dean  of  the  Sacred 
College,  and  gave  him  a  place  next  himself  in  all  public  cere- 
monies. Martin  IV.,  his  successor,  roused  the  indignation  of 
Christendom  by  his  shameless  plunder  of  the  Church  to  enrich 
his  family,  the  Colonnas.  Nicolas  V.,  son  of  a  medical  teacher, 
in  his  pontificate  from  1447  to  1455,  for  a  time  redeemed  the 
honour  of  the  Papacy  by  his  personal  uprightness,  and  his  zea- 
lous patronage  of  the  new  learning  which  reached  Italy  from 
Greece.  To  him  we  owe  the  founding  of  the  Vatican  Library, 
for  which  he  collected  5,000  manuscripts.  But  Calixtus  III., 
his  successor,  a  Spaniard,  an  old  man  of  over  eighty,  introduced 
the  terrible  name  of  the  Borgias  on  the  roll  of  popes.  What 
Rome  and  the  Church  endured  under  him  may  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  at  his  death,  in  1458,  after  a  reign  of  three  years, 
his  nephews  and  all  the  Spaniards  of  their  suites  fled  from  Rome, 
to  escape  punishment  for  endless  murders,  robberies,  and 
tumults  which  they  had  committed  along  with  the  Colonnas — 
the  family  of  Martin  V.  Paul  II.,  a  Venetian,  who  wore  the 
tiara  from  1464  to  1471,  has  been  rightly  called,  with  others,  a 
precursor  of  the  Reformation,  from  the  necessity  which  his 
worldliness  and  unblushing  immorality  showed  for  a  thorough 
reform,  alike  in  the  head  and  members  of  the  Church.  Sixtus 
IV.,  an  Italian  Franciscan  friar,  devoted  himself,  like  Martin  V. 
and  Calixtus  III.,  to  raising  his  family  from  obscurity  to  princely 
rank.  Impelled  by  this  passion,  he  utterly  forgot  his  own  self- 
respect  and  all  care  for  the  Church  ;  gave  himself  up  to  greed 
of  money  for  himself  and  of  worldly  honour  for  his  relations  ; 
shrinking  from  no  deed  of  simony,  or  even  of  blood,  to  gain 
these  ends.  His  intrigues  and  want  of  principle  threw  the 
Church  into  confusion  and  filled  Italy  with  violence,  till  he  drew 
on  himself  the  haired  and  contempt  of  his  own  age,  and  the 
6 


8o  The  English  Reformation.         [ad.  1484-1503. 

indignant  abhorrence  of  posterity.  Innocent  VIII.  left  a  family 
of  sixteen  children,  and  made  the  son  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici  a 
cardinal,  at  thirteen  years  of  age.  But  it  was  left  to  Alexander 
VI. — a  Spanish  Borgia — to  make  the  Papacy  almost  more  in- 
famous than  John  XXIII.  had  made  it.  He  became  pope  in 
1492,  by  bribing  a  sufficient  number  of  cardinals.  While  him- 
self a  cardinal,  he  had  rivalled  the  late  favourite  of  the  present 
Pope,  Antonelli,  in  his  looseness,  for  he  had  a  family  of  four 
sons  and  a  daughter,  whose  mother  was  a  married  woman.  His 
highest  aim  as  pope  was  to  raise  these  illegitimates  to  wealth  and 
honour.  Even  his  foreign  policy,  which  disturbed  the  world,  had 
no  higher  end  than  to  make  them  princes  by  marriage  or  intrigue. 
His  daughter  Lucrezia  was  married  four  times  by  his  diplomacy, 
and  he  readily  divorced  her  from  such  of  her  successive  hus- 
bands as  were  not  murdered.  Caesar,  his  favourite  son,  mur- 
dered, among  many  others,  his  sister's  third  husband  and  his 
own  brother  Louis,  throwing  his  corpse  into  the  Tiber.  But 
though  he  laughed  at  crime,  his  father  made  him  a  cardinal. 
Caesar,  however,  preferred  the  liberty  of  a  layman,  and,  resign- 
ing his  ecclesiastical  honours,  joined  his  father  and  the  Orsinis 
to  exterminate  the  family  of  the  Colonnas.  But  hardly  had 
these  been  driven  out,  or  removed  by  the  dagger  or  the 
poison-bowl,  before  father  and  son  turned  against  the  Orsinis, 
and  then  against  the  Italian  princes  and  Free  States  in  detail. 
Wars  were  stirred  up  to  revenge  hesitation  in  marriage  alliance 
with  the  Pope's  family,  and  divorces  granted  on  condition  of 
invasions  of  Italy  to  conquer  principalities  for  them. 

Alexander's  death  was  worthy  of  one  who  has  been  well  called 
the  Nero  or  Tiberius  of  the  Papacy.  Having  invited  Adrian,  the 
richest  of  the  cardinals,  to  dinner,  with  the  intention  of  murder- 
ing him  by  poisoned  confectionery,  the  cook,  bribed  to  do  so, 
set  the  treacherous  cake  before  the  Pope  himself,  who  ate  it  and 
died.  No  man  ever  left  a  more  infamous  memory.  Both  the 
common  people  of  Rome,  whom  he  favoured,  and  the  aristocracy, 
whom  he  proscribed,  believed  that  he  lived  in  infamous  relations 


A.D.  i5o3.]         The  Church  before  the  Reformation.  8 1 

with  his  daughter.  Shameless  plays  were  acted  in  his  palace  by 
public  prostitutes.  All  Christendom  repeated  the  epigram — 
"  Alexander  sells  the  keys,  the  altars,  Christ  Himself.  He  has  a 
right  to  do  so,  for  he  bought  them  first."  Yet  it  was  this 
monster  who  burned  Savanarola  as  a  heretic,  in  1498,  for 
denouncing  his  wickedness,  and  founded  the  index  expurgatorius 
to  maintain  the  purity  and  orthodoxy  of  the  press !  Henry  VIH. 
was  a  boy  of  twelve  when  Alexander  died. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Church  at  large  on  the  eve  of 
the  Reformation.  But  amidst  all  this  imposture  on  the  one 
hand,  and  unspeakable  corruption  even  at  the  centre,  it  grew, 
outwardly,  in  England,  ever  richer  and  more  stately.  The 
abbots  and  bishops  almost  alone  had  ready  money  in  these 
troubled  times,  and  used  it  to  buy  up,  at  nominal  prices,  the 
lands  depreciated  by  the  civil  wars.  The  destruction  of  the 
nobility,  moreover,  in  these  long  and  terrible  struggles,  helped 
them,  for  while  the  territorial  aristocracy  had  well-nigh 
perished,  that  of  the  Church  remained  intact.  It  was  indif- 
ferent which  Rose  won  or  lost :  the  Church  throve  in  any  case. 
The  weaker  the  cause  of  a  prince,  the  higher  its  claims,  and 
the  more  of  the  high  offices  of  State  held  by  its  members. 
Henry  VH.,  when  in  exile,  had  proposed  to  the  Pope  to  hold 
his  crown  in  fealty  to  him,  and  the  Pope,  glad  to  find  a  pre- 
tender so  pliant,  blessed  his  attempt,  and  made  himself  his 
patron.  When  the  crown  passed  into  his  hands,  the  glory  of 
the  Church  seemed  complete.  His  title  to  the  throne,  endorsed 
by  the  Pope,  was  read  publicly  in  St.  Paul's  by  the  Primate, 
surrounded  by  a  staff  of  bishops  in  their  robes,  who  denounced 
the  curses  of  the  Church  on  anyone  who  should  question 
Henry's  claim.  He  reigned  as  the  nominee  of  Rome  :  bound 
to  it  alike  by  superstition  and  gratitude. 


mm 


iw 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  EVE  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 


TO  understand  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  in  its  connection 
with  the  Reformation,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind 
the  circumstances  under  which  his  father  obtained  the  crown. 

Henry  VII.  was  born  some  months  after  the  death  of  his 
father,  Edmund  Tudor,  Earl  of  Richmond,  and  Hved  in  exile, 
under  attainder,  or  sentence  of  civil  degradation  and  death,  in 
Brittany,  during  the  English  civil  wars.  When  Gloucester  put 
aside,  or  murdered,  the  two  young  sons  of  his  brother  Edward 
IV.,  and  seized  the  throne  as  Richard  III.,  Henry  was  only 
twenty-six ;  but  by  the  advice  of  Morton,  Bishop  of  Ely,  after- 
wards his  chief  counsellor,^  he  at  once  set  out  for  England,  to 
unseat  the  new  king,  his  rival.  Landing  in  Wales,  as  a  Welsh- 
man he  propitiated  the  Principality,  and  having  obtained 
a  footing  and  supporters,  soon  after  won  Bosworth  Field, 
and  with  it  the  crown ;  the  possession  of  which  henceforth 
silenced  any  open  question  of  his  claims  to  it.  But  he  held  it 
by  a  precarious  tenure,  for  he  was  a  usurper.  The  Earl  of 
Warwick  and  the  De  la  Poles  were  nearer  the  throne  than  he ; 
but  the  headsman's  axe  or  flight  removed  this  danger,  and  a 
marriage  with  Elizabeth  of  York  united  him,  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  Lancasterians,  with  the  great  party  of  the  White 

>  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Lord  Chancellor,  i486— 1500. 


AD.  1509]  The  Eve  of  tlie  Reformation.  83 

Rose.  Yet  the  four  previous  kings  had  all  been  violently 
dethroned :  Henry  VI.  had  been  imprisoned  and  murdered  ; 
Edward  IV.  deposed,  and  for  a  time  exiled  j  Edward  V.  was  said 
to  have  been  murdered,  and  Richard  III.  had  been  slain  in  battle. 
The  civil  wars,  moreover,  had  left  men's  minds  excited  and 
ready  for  revolt,  so  that  Henry's  whole  reign  was  either  dis- 
tracted by  insurrections  or  by  the  fear  of  them,  for  Lambert 
Simnel  claimed  the  throne  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign, 
Perkin  Warbeck  terrified  him  till  the  fourteenth,  and  the  Poles 
survived  to  keep  even  his  son  uneasy. 

The  character  of  Henry  VIII.  in  its  worst  features  was  an 
inheritance  from  his  father.  Like  him  he  was  utterly  heartless, 
and  unspeakably  mean ;  honoured  the  form  Df  law,  and 
trampled  on  its  reality.  No  crime  was  allowed  to  stand  in  the 
way  of  either.  To  fill  his  coffers,  and  thus  strengthen  his  posi- 
tion, the  father,  following  Morton's  counsels,  exacted  heav)' 
fines  for  pretended  ofifences  from  all  who  had  money  to  pay 
them.  The  son  beheaded  the  two  foremost  instruments  of  this 
villainy,  but  he  kept  the  plunder  they  had  accumulated.  The 
father  was  ruthless  in  his  severity  against  the  party  he  had 
superseded  :  the  son  "  never  spared  a  woman  in  his  lust,  or  a 
man  in  his  anger."  The  father  demanded  subsidies  for  wars 
which  he  never  began,  to  get  hold  of  the.  money;  the  son 
made  his  Parliament  cancel  his  debts,  though  his  honour  had 
been  pledged  to  pay  them.  The  father  summoned  Parlia- 
ment only  twice  in  the  last  thirteen  years  of  his  reign ;  the  son 
summoned  none  from  1514  to  1523,  and  only  one  between 
1523  and  1536.  Plaving  amassed  treasure  by  force  and  fraud, 
both  could  do  without  an  assembly  they  each  hated.  Dark, 
designing,  treacherous,  and  ungrateful,  Henry  VII.  sacrificed 
those  who  in  early  life  had  rendered  him  the  most  important 
services,  and  let  no  consideration  of  justice  or  mercy  temper 
his  selfishness  or  suspicion.  Even  his  wife  had  her  estate 
charged  with  any  moneys  he  paid  her,  and  he  would  ruin  in  the 
morning  the  host  who  had  entertained  him  royally  over  night. 


34  The  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1401-1500. 

His  son  might  differ  from  him  in  prodigally  spending  his  trea- 
sure, but  he  was  as  unprincipled  in  acquiring  it ;  he  might  be 
open  in  his  crimes  instead  of  secret  and  false,  but  the  crimes 
were  as  little  to  one  as  to  the  other ;  nor  could  father  and  son 
have  been  more  alike  in  thinking  of  their  people  and  the 
country  as  only  made  to  minister  to  their  royal  passions  or 
caprices. 

The  slow  but  steady  progress  of  the  human  mind  in  free 
thought,  scientific  effort,  and  social  development,  which  had 
marked  the  fourteenth  century,  had  steadily  increased  during  the 
fifteenth,  in  spite  of  the  religious  and  moral  corruption  that 
reigned  so  widely ;  perhaps,  in  part,  as  a  reaction  of  the  nobler 
spirits  against  it. 

The  University  of  St,  Andrew's  had  been  founded  in  1411  ; 
the  divinity  school  and  library  of  Oxford  in  1426,  and  the 
University  of  Aberdeen  in  1494.  Italy  saw  the  glory  of  the 
Medicis  rise  and  fade  in  this  century  at  Florence.  The  three 
greatest  ItaUan  artists — Leonardo  de  Vinci,  Michael  Angelo 
Buonarotti,  and  Raffaele — adorned  it,  and  it  saw  famous  schools 
of  art  in  other  countries  also. 

Nor  was  progress  confined  to  the  old  limits  of  civilization  ;  the 
bounds  of  the  known  world  were  being  steadily  enlarged.  The 
discovery  of  the  Canary  Islands  in  1395,  had  quickened  the 
desire  for  more  distant  voyages,  and  these,  successively,  added 
the  Cape  de  Verd  islands,  the  Azores,  and  the  Guinea  coast,  to 
the  maps  of  Africa  before  the  middle  of  the  century.  The  latter 
half  was  destined  to  witness  more  famous  triumphs,  for,  before 
its  close,  Vasco  de  Gama  had  reached  India  by  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  Columbus  had  revealed,  beyond  the  Atlantic, 
a  vast  continent  hitherto  unknown. 

All  these  refinements  and  discoveries,  however,  would  have 
added  little  to  the  sum  of  real  progress,  but  for  another  which 
for  ever  marks  the  fifteenth  century  as  the  most  famous  in 
modem  history.  Paper  mills  had  been  at  work  in  Germany 
before  it  began,  but  the  painful  labour  of  the  transcriber  was 


A  D.  1401-1500.]        The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  85 

still  the  only  means  of  mviltiplying  books.  At  last,  however, 
about  1430,  Koster  of  Haarlem,  gave  the  world  the  greatest  gift 
ever  conferred  on  it  by  man, — in  the  invention  of  printing  from 
moveable  types,  and  before  the  middle  of  the  century,  his 
first  hint  caught  up  by  Gutenburg,  Schoeffer,  and  Faust,  had 
spread  sheets  printed  from  metal  types,  like  our  own,  to  an  extent 
that  showed  even  then  the  greatness  of  their  art.  In  its  very 
infancy  it  proclaimed  a  new  era  for  the  human  mind.  In  1471, 
Caxton  had  set  up  the  first  printing  press  in  England,  and,  three 
years  later,  the  first  book  printed  by  it  had  been  published.  Day 
had  risen  on  the  earth  at  last. 

During  the  reign  of  Henr}'  VII.  things  were  outwardly  as 
prosperous  for  the  Church  as  in  the  past.  But  it  was  only  in 
appearance.  The  hideous  corruption  in  all  its  parts  had  called 
forth  the  protests  of  some  purer  souls  throughout  Christendom. 
A  Carmelite  friar  had  come  forward  in  Flanders,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  century,  with  great  success,  as  a  preacher  of  morality, 
but  his  severe  sermons  against  the  clergy  were  fatal  to  him,  for, 
venturing  to  Rome  in  1432,  he  was  presently  arrested,  and  soon 
after  burned  alive.  "  Those  flames,"  says  a  contemporary, 
"  were  not  those  of  a  criminal,  but,  a  martyr.  Let  who  like 
clamour  and  rave  against  him,  he  lives  in  the  highest  heaven." 
The  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Camiola,  a  Dominican,  having  been 
sent  to  Rome  in  the  days  of  Sixtus  IV.  (1471 — 1484),  was 
shocked  to  find  things  so  different  from  his  ideal,  and  in  his 
honest  simplicity  ventured  to  speak  to  the  Pope  himself  about 
the  evil  round  him.  But  he  only  incurred  insult  and  persecu- 
tion, and  at  last  died  in  prison  at  Basle  in  1484,  for  having 
desired  a  new  Council  to  bring  about  reform.  Savonarola, 
(1452 — 1498)  another  prophet-Hke  spirit,  and  also  a  Dominican, 
inveighed  at  Florence  against  the  wickedness  of  the  Church  and 
of  the  Papacy,  but  he  also  soon  fell  a  victim  to  Roman  hatred, 
and  was  burned  alive  in  1498  by  Alexander  VI. !  These  and 
other  pure-minded  men  hoped  for  a  remedy  from  internal 
reform  of  the  Church,  but  others,  in  the  wide  agitation  of  the 


S6  The  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1401-1500. 

general  mind,  took  a  deeper  view.  A  Carthusian  monk  of 
Erfurt,  protested  against  the  mass  of  superstitious  opinions  and 
customs  which  smothered  religion;  and  the  master  of  the  Sor- 
bonne  in  Paris  in  1484,  traced  the  evils  of  the  time  to  the 
priestly  despotism  which  had  substituted  external  acts  for  living 
faith.  In  Germany,  the  influence  of  the  Hussites  in  Bohemia 
led  men  to  betake  themselves  to  the  Scriptures  as  the  only  true 
rule  of  faith.  Fourteen  editions  of  the  Bible  in  High  German  were 
issued  from  the  press  as  the  first  fruits  of  the  new  art  of  printing, 
before  the  Reformation,  and  three  in  Low  German ;  while  even 
in  Paris,  a  French  edition  was  issued  before  1498,  and  in  Italy, 
an  Italian  one  had  been  published  twenty  years  earlier.  Nor 
was  the  activity  of  the  press  less  in  other  directions,  mainly 
religious  and  classical,  for  not  fewer  than  ten  thousand  books 
and  pamphlets  made  their  appearance  between  1470  and 
1500. 

As  the  greater  number  of  the  clergy  could  not  preach  at  all, 
and  the  preaching  friars  entertained  their  hearers,  for  the  most 
part,  with  wretched  fables,  to  enrich  their  houses,  or  dealt  in 
the  pedantic  follies  of  the  later  schoolmen,  some  better-minded 
men  set  themselves  to  introduce  a  higher  and  more  earnest 
style  into  the  pulpit.  The  kindling  religiousness  of  the  age  was 
further  helped  by  the  publication  of  the  Imitation  of  Christ,  a 
tender  embodiment  of  the  monkish  conception  of  religion,  by 
Thomas  of  Kempen,  a  canon  of  TwoU,  who  died  in  1471. 
John  of  Wessel,  a  Doctor  of  Divinity  at  Erfurt,  assailed  the 
errors  on  which  the  Papacy  was  built,  and  led  men  back  to  the 
Scriptures;  but  he  died  in  prison  in  1482,  leaving  John  of  Goch, 
prior  of  a  convent  of  nuns  at  Mechlin,  to  help  on  the  good  work ; 
while  another,  John  Wessel,  a  imiversity  professor,  spread 
abroad  views  which  Luther  afterwards  recognized  as  identical 
with  his  own.  Thus  the  necessity  of  a  Reformation  had  become 
a  fixed  conviction  over  Christendom  long  before  any  of  those 
whom  we  commonly  call  Reformers  had  appeared.  Nor  were 
opinions  any  longer  circumscribed  by  local  isolations.    The 


A.D.  I40I-1S00.]       Tlie  Eve  of  the  Reformatiofu  Sy 

growth  of  commerce  had  already  linked  all  Western  Europe 
together,  and  ideas  circulated  no  less  freely  than  merchandise. 
The  woollen  goods  of  the  east  and  west  of  England  had  already 
established  a  market  over  the  Continent,  and  whole  fleets  of 
trading  vessels  passed  and  repassed  between  our  harbours  and 
those  of  Antwerp,  Hamburg,  and  Dantzic,  among  other 
ports. 

But  a  reformation  in  which  religious  zeal  was  left  without 
intelligent  guidance  could  have  secured  only  imperfect  results, 
and  in  the  wisdom  of  Providence  this  want  was  being  provided. 
The  great  Schoolmen  had  died  out  before  the  fifteenth  century 
began,  and  the  schools  only  repeated  and  maintained  with  ever- 
increasing  emptiness  what  their  founders  had  originally  taught. 
Their  gloomy  halls  became  more  and  more  narrow-minded  and 
ignorant.  Knowledge,  under  them,  had  become,  to  use  Milman's 
words,  a  stagnant  morass  or  an  impenetrable  jungle.  "  What 
a  sight  it  is,"  says  Erasmus,  "  to  see  a  theologian  of  eighty  who 
knows  nothing  but  empty  sophisms,  and  can  do  nothing  but 
dispute!"  They  busied  themselves  with  a  barren  logic  and 
empty  and  often  irreverent  trifling  with  imaginary  problems, 
while  utterly  ignorant  of  the  Scriptures  or  even  the  Fathers. 
Erasmus  jests  bitterly  at  the  "  theologasters  "  of  his  day,  "  than 
whose  brains  there  is  nothing  more  mouldy ;  than  whose  style 
nothing  is  more  barbarous ;  while  nothing  is  more  stupid  than 
their  wits;  or  more  thorny  than  their  teaching;  or  harsher 
than  their  manners ;  or  more  hollow  than  their  lives ;  or  more 
virulent  than  their  language,  or  blacker  than  their  bosoms." 
All  knowledge  was  claimed  as  a  part  of  theology,  and  every- 
thing was  decided  by  scholastic  rules  that  had  grown  up  in  the 
dark  ages.  Whatever  was  new  was  suspected,  and  even  the 
question  whether  the  earth  moved  round  the  sun  had  to  be 
settled  by  texts  from  Scripture  interpreted  by  mediaeval  light. 

The  grand  attempt  to  establish  the  theology  of  Rome  on 
the  basis  of  logic,  and  settle  every  possible  question,  however 
profound  or  preposterous,  by  formal  syllogism  and  conclusion, 


88  The  English  Reformation.        [ad.  1453-1509. 

had  long  sunk  to  folly.  The  schools  still  discussed  with  un- 
abated zeal  whether  God  could  have  taken  any  form  but  that  of 
man— as,  for  instance,  that  of  a  woman,  of  the  devil,  of  an 
ass,  of  a  cucumber,  or  of  a  flint  stone.  Then,  supposing  he  had 
taken  the  form  of  a  cucumber,  how  could  He  have  preached, 
worked  miracles,  or  been  crucified  ?  Whether  Christ  could  be 
called  a  man  while  he  was  hanging  on  the  cross.  Whether 
the  Pope  shared  both  natures  with  Christ.  Whether  God  the 
Father  could  in  any  case  hate  the  Son.  Whether  the  Pope 
was  greater  than  Peter,  and  a  thousand  other  niceties  far  more 
subtle  than  these,  about  "  notions,"  "  formalities,"  "  quiddities," 
"  ecceities,"  "  instants,"  and  "  essences." 

In  such  a  deep  prostration  of  intellectual  life,  the  arrival  in 
Italy  of  teachers  of  a  new  language  and  literature  had  all  the 
charm  of  novelty,  and  was  destined  not  only  to  revolutionize 
the  state  of  letters  in  Europe,  but  carried  in  its  distant  results 
the  emancipation  of  the  mind  from  priestly  authority  in  all  its 
domains. 

The  fall  of  Constantinople,  in  1453,  extended  the  study  of 
Greek  in  Italy  still  more  widely,  by  sending  westward  a  crowd 
of  learned  men,  who  taught  in  various  parts  of  the  Peninsula, 
and  their  love  of  their  own  ancient  language  and  literature 
naturally  awoke  a  patriotic  feeling  in  favour  of  Roman  antiquity 
also,  in  their  Italian  scholars.  Princes  took  learning  under  their 
patronage,  and  the  study  of  the  writings  of  both  Greece  and 
Rome  became  the  passion  of  the  age. 

As  the  century  advanced,  the  enthusiasm  deepened  with  the 
new  life  suddenly  kindled  through  Europe  by  the  wondrous 
increase  of  knowledge  in  other  directions.  Men  talked  of  the 
strange  world  which  Columbus  had  revealed  beyond  the  Atlantic ; 
of  the  voyage  of  Vasco  de  Gama  to  India ;  and,  ere  long,  of 
Amerigo  Vespucci's  voyage  to  South  America,  and  Cabot's 
discovery  of  Newfoundland  and  Labrador — the  fancied  "  gold 
coast "  of  the  west.  The  printing-press  was  more  than  half  a 
century  old  when  Henry  VII.  died,  and  the  next  generation  was 


A.D.  isi6.]  The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  89 

to  learn  from  Copernicus^  the  secret  of  the  universe  itself.  The 
sleep  of  ages  had  been  broken  by  a  succession  of  marvels,  which 
no  age  has  ever  seen  equalled,  and  these  acted  and  reacted  to 
quicken  intelligence  in  every  direction. 

The  new  learning  early  showed  its  bearing  on  the  theology 
of  the  day.  In  Italy,  indeed,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Papacy, 
it  professed  orthodoxy,  for  the  most  part,  and  confined  itself  to 
collecting  and  editing  classical  literature  of  all  kinds.  Under 
learned  Popes  like  Nicholas  V.  and  Pius  II.,  and  imder  Cosmo 
de  Medici,  among  other  temporal  princes,  Italy  became  the 
great  school  of  Christendom,  to  which  the  Bristol  merchants 
reported  that  multitudes  of  foreigners  from  all  parts  were  con- 
stantly crowding  to  learn  the  language  of  antiquity,  and  to 
buy  manuscripts  of  the  classics,  of  which  it  had  become  the 
mart. 

But  if  the  revival  of  learning  resulted,  in  Italy,  mainly  in 
servile  devotion  to  philological  studies,  and  to  general  scepticism, 
it  yielded  very  different  fruits  in  Germany.  Its  bearing  on 
religious  truth  was  recognized  there  from  the  first,  nor  did  the 
insight  into  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  thus  obtained  lead, 
as  in  Italy,  to  revulsion  from  Christianity.  It  was  used  to  defend 
convictions  and  to  help  on  the  reformation  demanded  by  the 
age.  Reuchlin,"  who  introduced  the  study  of  Hebrew  among 
Christians,  did-  not  scruple  to  vary  in  some  cases  from  received 
translations,  which  itself  was  a  blow  at  the  Church  authority, 
hitherto  absolute.  The  want  of  Scriptural  knowledge  in  his 
day  drew  forth  his  earnest  regrets.  But,  beyond  all  others, 
the  new  learning  found  in  Erasmus'  one  who  was  destined  to 
make  it  a  powerful  aid  to  the  inevitably  approaching  Reforma- 
tion. His  greatest  work — the  Greek  New  Testament — brings 
us  back  to  England. 

•  1473 — 1543-  His  great  work  was  published  after  his  death.  He  saw 
a  printed  coj^y  only  a  few  hours  before  he  died. 

'  1455— »52»-  '  1467—1536. 


90  The  English  Reformation.        [ad.  i43o-is«. 

Already,  about  1450,  Robert  Fleming,  afterwards  Dean  of 
Lincoln,  had  studied  Greek  and  Latin  in  Italy,  and  had  com- 
piled a  Lexicon  of  both  on  his  return.  Others  soon  followed 
his  example,  till,  before  the  end  of  the  century,  they  included 
such  famous  names  as  Grocyn,  Linacre,  Lillie,  and  Colet. 
Before  their  day  the  state  of  the  Universities  had  been  such 
that  Italian  scholars  had  to  be  hired  to  compose  the  public 
orations  and  letters.  But  when  Erasmus  met  these  scholars  in 
Oxford,  in  1498,  he  could  write,"  I  have  foimd  so  much  polish 
and  learning  here  that  I  hardly  care  ahout  going  to  Italy  at  all. 
When  I  listen  to  my  friend  Colet,  it  seems  like  listening  to  Plato 
himself.  Who  does  not  wonder  at  the  wide  range  of  Grocyn's 
knowledge  ?  What  can  be  more  searching,  deep,  and  refined 
than  the  judgment  of  Linacre  ?  When  did  nature  mould  a 
temper  more  gentle,  endearing,  and  happy  than  that  of  Thomas 
More?"  At  Oxford,  Erasmus  advanced  himself  in  Greek,  slowly 
qualifying  himself  to  prepare  his  Greek  New  Testament,  which 
appeared  at  Basle  in  1516 — a  work  which  directly  and  indirectly 
led  to  all  the  religious  changes  that  followed. 

As  the  French  Revolution  was  largely  due  to  the  writings  of 
the  generation  before  it,  the  Reformation  flowed  from  the 
principles  of  the  first  apostles  of  the  New  Learning,  in  England. 
The  wide  diffusion  of  the  writings  of  Erasmus,  which  appeared 
with  amazing  rapidity,  would  have  been  striking  in  any  age. 
His  "  Praise  of  Folly,"  which  appeared  in  1 5 1 1 ,  was  circulated 
everywhere.  Twenty  thousand  copies  of  his  "  Colloquies " 
were  struck  off  at  once,^  and  Turgo,  Bishop  of  Breslau,  could, 
at  a  later  time,  write  him  that  "  true  theology,  and  the  most 
sacred  studies,  almost  ready  to  die — now,  as  if  raised  from  the 
dead,  flourish  over  the  whole  world,  through  your  labours  and 
guidance."  No  one  ridiculed  and  condemned  more  bitterly  the 
superstitions  of  the  day — the  indulgences,  the  worship  of  relics, 
the  lying   miracles,  the  monstrous   legends,   the  idolatory  of 

'  Milman's  Essays,  Erasmus,  118.  The  first  edition  of  the  Colloquies 
appeared  in  1522. 


A.D.  i5M.]  The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  9 1 

saints  and  images  which  prevailed.  No  one  scourged  the  friars 
and  monks  more  fiercely,  or  was  so  bitterly  hated  by  them.  He 
mocked  the  scholastic  theologians  as  men  who  affected  to  be 
able  to  define  everything :  who  boasted  of  knowing  questions 
on  which  St.  Paul  was  ignorant ;  could  talk  of  science  as  if  they 
had  been  consulted  when  the  world  was  made ;  could  give  the 
dimensions  of  heaven  as  if  they  had  been  there  and  had  measured 
it  with  a  plumb  and  line — claimants  of  universal  knowledge,  who, 
yet,  had  never  read  either  the  gospels  or  the  epistles. 

Monks  were  described  as  shut  out  of  heaven  in  spite  of  their 
cowls  and  gowns,  while  waggoners  and  peasants  were  admitted ; 
and  even  popes  who,  like  those  of  that  day,  instead  of  "  leaving 
all,"  as  St.  Peter  did,  tried  to  add  to  St.  Peter's  patrimony  by 
war  or  craft,  and  turned  law,  religion,  and  all  human  things 
upside  down  in  doing  so,  were  ranked  among  the  worshippers 
of  folly.  But  he  did  more,  he  earnestly  taught  that  "  religion 
did  not  consist  in  ceremonies  or  in  Jew-like  outward  acts,  but  in 
setting  up  Christ  alone,  as  the  one  aim  of  our  whole  life,  to 
which  all  studies,  all  efforts,  all  rest,  and  all  business,  should 
tend.  He  laughed  at  the  current  teaching  respecting  purgatory : 
commended  to  all  ranks  in  the  Church,  from  the  pope  down- 
wards, if  they  would  imitate  Christ,  to  do  so  in  poverty,  in 
work,  in  teaching,  in  the  cross,  and  in  contempt  of  life.  He 
ridiculed  the  vows  to  give  so  much  to  the  saints  on  certain  con- 
ditions, as  simply  heathen.  His  Greek  New  Testament,  for  its 
time,  was  a  wonderful  work.  The  boldness  that  questioned  the 
authoritative  Latin  version  and  relied  on  the  original  text  was 
startling.  But  his  desire  that  all  classes  should  have  the 
Scriptures  within  their  reach  was  still  nobler.  "  I  wish,"  said 
he,  "that  even  all  women  might  read  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles 
of  St.  Paul.  I  wish  they  were  translated  into  all  languages,  so 
as  to  be  read  and  understood  not  only  by  the  Scotch  and  the 
Irish,  but  even  by  Saracens  and  Turks.  I  long  for  the  day, 
when  the  husbandman  shall  sing  parts  of  them  to  himself 
as  he  follows  the  plough,  when  the  weaver  shall  hum  them 


92  The  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1466— isig- 

to  the  time  of  the  shuttle ;  when  the  traveller  shall  while  away 
with  their  stories,  the  weariness  of  his  journey."  His  famous 
Paraphrase  of  the  New  Testament  opened  the  sense  as  well  as 
the  letter  of  the  long  banished,  long  sealed  volume  so  simply, 
that  a  translation  of  it  was  afterwards  ordered  to  be  placed 
along  with  the  English  Bible  in  all  our  churches. 

Colet,^  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  whom  Erasmus  brings  before  us  as 
a  man  tall  and  elegant,  of  the  sweetest  manners  and  the  utmost 
purity  and  simplicity  of  life,  was  no  less  truly  a  herald  of  the 
coming  Reformation.  To  him  also  religion  was  a  thing  of  the 
heart  and  life,  not  of  forms  or  outward  observances.  Rejecting 
all  but  the  historical  and  grammatical  sense  of  the  sacred  text, 
he  devoted  himself  to  its  exposition  with  intense  enthusiasm. 
Like  Erasmus,  he  despised  the  pious  frauds  and  superstitions  of. 
his  day  and  yearned  to  revive  a  purer  faith  and  practice  in  the 
Church.  "  Never  was  reformation  more  necessary,"  cried  he, 
in  a  Sermon  to  Convocation,  "  and  never  did  the  state  of  the 
Church  need  more  earnest  efforts."  The  vicious  and  depraved 
lives  of  the  clergy,  he  declared,  were  the  worst  heresy  with  which 
the  times  were  troubled.  In  St.  Paul's  school,  which  he  founded, 
he  introduced  a  new  era  in  education.  Lillie,  an  Oxford  man, 
who  had  studied  Greek  at  Rhodes,  was  made  head  master,  and 
fresh  school  books  were  composed  by  Erasmus  and  Linacre  for 
the  use  of  the  scholars,  Colet  himself  writing  a  new  Latin 
grammar,  because  no  one  else  seemed  able  to  write  one  easy 
enough  "for  little  children  learning  a  tongue  all  strange  for 
them."  The  old  studies  which  had  become  so  trifling  and 
worthless  were  ignored,  and  the  aim  concentrated  on  imparting 
a  sound  religious  and  classical  education  such  as  even  at  this 
day  is  all  that  could  be  wished  in  its  principles.  The  spirit  of 
the  founder  was,  indeed,  shown  in  the  image  of  the  Child  Jesus 
carved  over  the  master's  chair,  with  the  words  beneath  it,  "  Hear 
ye  Him."    Instead  of  the  flogging  and  brutality  which  Erasmus 

»  1466— 1519. 


A.D.  1500.]  The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  93 

tells  us  had  been  the  characteristics  of  monkish  education, 
Colet  asked  them  to  lift  up  their  little  white  hands  for  him,  in 
return  for  his  prayers  for  them.  So  great  was  its  influence  in 
its  own  age  that  twenty  new  grammar  schools  on  the  same  basis 
were  founded  in  the  short  period  before  the  Reformation. 

The  Grammar  Schools  of  Edward  VI.  and  of  Elizabeth,  and 
indeed  the  whole  system  of  middle-class  education  which  in 
another  century  had  revolutionized  the  intellectual  life  of 
England,  were,  in  fact,  the  direct  result  of  Colet's  School  of 
St.  Paul's. 

The  influence  of  the  "  Humanists"  ' — as  these  disciples  of  the 
New  Learning  were  called — ^was  of  supreme  value  for  the  future 
of  the  Reformation.  Like  earlier  Reformers  in  all  great  revo- 
•  lutions,  they  had  no  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  inevitably 
impending  changes,  but  while  intending  only  to  revive  the  old 
they  prepared  the  way  for  the  new.  Erasmus,  Colet,  Linacre, 
Grocyn,  and  their  fellows,  belonged  to  the  world  that  was  pas- 
sing away.  Some  of  them  were  simply  scholars :  others  busied 
themselves  also  with  the  universally  agitated  question  of  Church 
reform,  but  none  wished  to  disturb  the  ancient  doctrine  or 
ecclesiastical  system  in  anything  fundamental.' 

In  the  year  1500,  Erasmus  was  a  man  of  33,  Grocyn  of  58, 
Colet  of  36,  Linacre  of  40.  Warham,  the  future  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  was  in  his  prime — a  man  of  about  45,  now 
Master  of  the  Rolls  :  Wolsey,  as  yet  only  29,  had  just  got  his 
first  preferment  as  a  coimtry  rector,  at  Lymington,  in  Somerset; 
Sir  Thomas  More  was  a  young  man  of  20 ;  Latimer,  only  a  lad 
of  16,  on  his  father's  farm  in  Leicestershire ;  Cranmer,  a  boy 
of  11;  Hooper,  a  child  of  5 ;  and  Ridley,  an  infant.  Those 
who  were  men  when  the  century  opened  cast  in  their  lot  with 
the  past ;  the  younger  became  the  apostles  of  the  new  era. 

^  The  "new  learning"  was  called  "the  humanities,"  as,  indeed,  the 
same  studies  still  are,  in  the  Scotch  universities,  from  its  humanizing  effect. 

^  Colet's  attacks  on  the  abuses  of  the  Church  Courts  were  especially 
fierce.     See  his  "  Romans,"  p.  162. 


94  Tlie  English  Reformation.  [a.i^.  1516. 

Besides  Erasmus  and  Colet,  their  common  friend  More,  was 
one  of  the  unconscious  forerunners  of  the  impending  change. 
He  had  left  the  family  of  Cardinal  Morton,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  I497\  and  had  gone  to  Oxford,  where  Erasmus 
found  him  the  next  year,  and  was  charmed  by  his  character. 
"  Did  Nature,"  he  asks  "  ever  frame  a  disposition  more  gentle, 
more  sweet,  more  happy,  than  that  of  Thomas  More."  Morton 
had  already  said  of  him  that  "  there  was  but  one  wit  in  England, 
and  that  was  he."  A  few  years  later  he  was  a  London  judge 
and  practising  lawyer,  with  an  income  of  ^^4.000  or  ;^5,ooo  a 
year,  of  our  money,  and  after  acting  as  ambassador  on  various 
special  missions,  and  being  Speaker  of  Parliament,  he  became 
Lord  Chancellor  in  1529,  on  the  downfall  of  Wolsey.  He  was 
a  vivacious,  loveable  man,  of  the  brightest  parts,  and,  what  is 
more,  of  the  largest  views.  His  Utopia^  a  description  of  the 
island  of  "  Nowhere,"  with  its  laws,  institutions,  &c.,  reveals 
the  ideas  which  he  must  have  diffused  in  his  circle,  and,  thus, 
through  the  intellectual  atmosphere  of  his  day.  Labour,  in  that 
happy  region  was  fairly  paid.  The  labouring  classes  were  not 
as  elsewhere,  "  doomed  to  a  life  so  wretched  that  even  a  beast's 
life  seemed  enviable,"  but  were  regarded  as  the  true  basis  of  a 
well-ordered  commonwealth,  and  the  aim  of  legislation  was  to 
secure  the  social,  industrial,  intellectual,  and  religious  welfare 
of  the  community  at  large.  Nine  hours'  toil  was  the  legal  day's 
work.  Schools  were  provided  for  all  by  the  State.  The  houses 
were  well  built,  and  the  streets  broad,  in  contrast  to  those  of 
England  at  that  time.  Theft,  which  our  law  for  three  hundred 
more  years  punished  with  death,was  dealt  with  more  mercifully, 
and  the  end  of  all  penal  legislation  was  the  destruction  of  vice 
and  the  saving  of  men — a  conception  hardly  realized  even  in  our 
own  day.  Hope  was  inspired,  to  stimulate  even  the  worst  criminal 
to  reform.  In  politics.  More  was,  on  many  points,  as  original  and 

'  There  is  a  charming  account  of  Morton's  household  in  Utopia,  but  we 
cannot  forget  in  reading  it  that  this  smooth  ecclesiastic  was  the  adviser  of 
Henry  VlL's  most  shameless  extortions.     *  Published  in  1516. 


A.D.  i5i6.]  The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  95 

as  advanced.  His  views  of  the  Pope's  political  power  in  Eng- 
land were  more  English  than  those  of  Henry  before  his  divorce, 
for  he  vigorously  opposed  the  undue  concessions  made  to  the 
papal  claims  in  the  king's  book  against  Luther.  In  later  years 
he  went  with  him  in  imposing  the  premunire  on  the  clergy,  and 
he  always  held  that  the  Church  of  England  was  the  sister,  not 
the  vassal  of  Rome.  Nor  did  he  hesitate,  in  his  early  career  in 
Parliament,  to  oppose  Henry  VII.  in  his  demand  for  exorbitant 
subsidies,  and  at  a  later  day  he  vindicated  the  privileges  of  the 
Commons  in  the  face  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Wolsey,  by  telling 
the  latter,  when  he  came  to  the  House  to  demand  money  for 
the  king,  that  he  would  give  the  answer  when  the  cardinal 
had  left. 

In  religion,  his  views  were  in  theory  even  more  before  his  age ; 
for  in  "  Nowhere"  there  was  perfect  toleration  of  all  opinions, 
because  the  people  were  "  persuaded  that  it  is  not  in  a  man's 
power  to  believe  what  he  pleases."  Argument  was  freely  allowed 
to  all,  though  insult  and  violence  to  the  religious  convictions  of 
any  were  illegal. 

But  though  thus  tolerant  in  theory.  More  was  wanting  in  the 
moral  courage  to  carry  out  his  convictions,  and  the  publication 
of  Luther's  attacks  on  the  Church  was  hereafter  to  throw  him  into 
a  frenzy.  By  a  strange  contradiction  the  gentle,  amiable  friend, 
and  the  tolerant  philosopher,  was  to  become  the  relentless  per- 
secutor. More's  rise  to  the  Lord  Chancellorship  after  Wolsey's 
fall  was  the  signal  for  the  fires  of  Smithfield  to  be  lighted  once 
more.  "  He  so  hated  this  kind  of  men,"  says  his  son,  "  that  he 
would  be  the  sorest  enemy  they  could  have,  if  they  would  not 
repent,"'  and  he  himself  left  it  in  the  inscription  to  be  put  on  his 
tomb,  that  he  was  "  hard  upon  thieves,  murderers,  and  heretics."' 
The  translation  of  the  New  Testament  by  Tyndale  made  him 
ferocious  and  scurrilous,  and  no  one  took  a  more  zealous  part 

*  He  himself  says  almost  these  very  words  in  a  letter  to  Erasmus.  Eras- 
mus' Letters  B.  27,  Letter  10. 

Furibus  autem,  et  homicidis,  hcreticisque  molestus. 


96  The  English  Reformation.        [a  d.  1503-1532. 

in  burning  the  obnoxious  book.'  Three  persons  guilty  of  circu- 
lating it  were  sentenced  by  him  to  ride  with  their  faces  to  the 
horses'  tails  to  the  Standard  in  Cheap,  New  Testaments  and 
other  books  they  dispersed  tacked  thick  on  their  cloaks,  them- 
selves to  throw  them  there  into  a  fire,  and  afterwards  to  pay  a 
fine,  in  all,  equal  in  our  money,  to  ^^  19,000. 

Warham,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  from  1 504  to  his  death 
in  1532,  was  bom  of  a  good  Hampshire  family,  about  1450  or 
1455,  and  at  Oxford  had  given  himself  specially  to  the  study  of 
Canon  and  Common  Law  so  completely  that  he  seems  never  to 
have  held  a  parish.  First,  a  lawyer  to  the  Court  of  Arches,  he 
was  next  head  of  the  Law  School  at  Oxford,  whence  he  was 
sent,  for  his  legal  knowledge,  on  a  mission,  by  Henry  VIL,  to 
Burgundy,  to  secure  the  extradition  of  Perkin  Warbeck,  whom 
it  suited  Henry  to  denounce  as  an  imposter.  Advancement 
speedily  followed.  He  was  presently  Master  of  the  Rolls ;  then, 
from  1502  to  1515  Lord  Chancellor;  to  which  high  office  he 
added,  first  that  of  Bishop  of  London,  and,  in  1504,  that  of 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  In  1 508,  he  was,  besides,  Chancel- 
lor of  the  University  of  Oxford. 

A  man  of  simple  and  refined  tastes,  though,  like  More, 
stem  against  the  Reformers  when  they  went  further  than  he 
approved,'^  he  was  an  early  and  generous  friend  of  the  New  Learn- 
ing. "When  close  upon  my  fortieth  year,"  wrote  Erasmus,  in 
one  of  the  notes  to  his  Greek  Testament,  "  it  was  my  good 
favour  to  be  introduced  to  Archbishop  Warham.     Cheered  by 

•  Strype's  Memorials,  i.  182. 

'  Strype's  Annals,  i.  183.  Foxe,  4,  649,  702,  703,  705.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Littledale,  a  Ritualist  who  is  not  ashamed  to  speak  of  the  Reformers 
as  'miscreants,'  'ruffians,'  and  'a  horde  of  licentious  infidels,'  &c., 
characterizes  Foxe,  with  his  usual  coarseness,  as  "  a  matchless  liar,"  and  his 
book  as  "  a  magazine  of  lying  bigotry."  But  Bishop  Burnet,  who  was  as 
careful  and  correct  as  this  meek  and  lowly  christian  is  reckless  and  foul- 
mouthed,  says  that  he  had  compared  the  Acts  and  Monuments  with  the 
records,  since  destroyed,  and  had  never  been  able  to  discover  any  errors 
or  prevarications  in  them,  but  the  utmost  fidelity  and  correctness. 


A.D.  i5oi— IS32-]       The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  97 

his  voice  and  aided  by  his  purse,  my  spirits  rose  within  me. 
Warham  gave  me  youth  and  strength  to  labour  in  the  cause  of 
learning.  All  the  gifts  which  nature  and  my  country  had 
denied  me,  his  generosity  supplied  in  full."  He  had  a  deep  con- 
viction of  the  need  of  ecclesiastical  reform,  and  urged  it  in  public 
and  private,  but  this  liberality  was  soon  changed  to  a  timid  con- 
servatism. Belonging  to  the  past,  he  could  not  read  the  signs 
of  the  times.  No  sooner  had  a  revolt  from  Church  authority 
shown  itself,  even  faintly,  than  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
bishops  in  opposition  to  all  change,  and  though  less  cruel  than 
some,  showed  bitter  hostility  to  the  new  "  heretics."  Their  most 
reasonable  proposals  found  no  hearing  from  him ;  he  held  the 
introduction  of  books  by  the  Continental  Reformers  a  crime 
worthy  of  death,  and  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  was 
not  to  be  borne.  Fortunately  for  the  Reformation  his  star  had 
paled  before  that  of  Wolsey,  whose  assumption  of  precedence, 
and  favour  with  the  king  led  Warham  at  last  to  resign  the  Lord 
Chancellorship  in  151 5.  He  had  been  the  first  man  both  in 
Church  and  State  for  eleven  years,  and  still  had  a  great  reputa- 
tion, but  was  comparatively  powerless  to  hinder  reform  when  his 
measures  would  have  had  most  effect ;  yet  his  spirit  remained 
the  same.  In  1521,  he  urged  Wolsey  to  a  more  vigorous  perse- 
cution than  the  milder  nature  of  the  Cardinal  would  allow,  and 
when  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1529,  made  complaints  against 
the  clergy,  he  wrote  a  defence,  in  reply,  upholding  his  order 
throughout,  demanding  the  subordination  of  the  civil  to  the 
canon  law,  and  pressing  for  sharper  dealings  with  the  "heretics." 
Thomas  Wolsey,  little  knowing  the  future  before  him,  entered 
on  the  new  century,  rejoicing  in  his  first,  humble  promotion 
to  a  country  rectory.  He  was  the  son  of  an  Ipswich  trader  of 
fair  standing,  not  a  butcher,  as  has  been  said,  and  showed,  long 
years  after,  that,  amidst  all  his  greatness,  he  still  remembered 
his  native  town  kindly,  by  founding  a  grammar  school  in  it  from 
the  proceeds  of  dissolved  monasteries.  Like  Warham,  an  Oxford 
man,  he  met  Erasmus  while  at  that  university  ;  but  though  he 


qS  The  English  Reformation,        [a.d.  1509—1530. 

once  in  his  after  splendour  patronized  the  great  scholar,  he  did 
it  so  badly  as  to  make  him  an  enemy.  At  fifteen  he  had  been  a 
Bachelor  of  Arts ;  at  twenty,  a  parish  priest ;  but  he  was  thirty- 
eight  before  he  had  risen  above  the  crowd.  He  had  then,  how- 
ever, been  on  a  royal  mission  to  the  Continent,  was  dean  of 
Lincoln,  and  chaplain  and  almoner  to  the  king. 

The  entrance  thus  obtained  at  court  opened  the  way  to  all  the 
future.  No  sooner  had  Henry  VII.  died,  than  Wolsey  paid 
assiduous  court  to  the  heir  apparent.  With  no  troublesome 
principles  to  hinder  his  advancement,  he  assiduously  trimmed 
his  sails  to  catch  most  favour.  His  bright  wit,  ready  song,  and 
easy  morals  made  him  a  favourite.  Besides,  he  humoured  the 
young  king  to  the  top  of  his  bent  in  all  his  fancies  and  vices, 
being  "  ever  most  earnest  and  ready  to  advance  his  only  will  and 
pleasure,  having  no  respect  to  the  cause.^"  Himself  of  immense 
capacity  for  business,  and  delighting  in  it,  he  took  care  to  relieve 
Henry  from  all  his  duties,  that  he  might  have  his  own  time  for 
"  appetite  and  desire."  The  result  was  that  he  soon  became 
all  powerful,  and  crowded  aside  every  competitor  for  royal 
favour.  His  promotion  was  henceforward  unexampled  in 
rapidity.  In  1 509  he  was  Henry  VIII, 's  Chief  Almoner ;  in  1 5 10 
Rector  of  Torrington,  Provost  of  Windsor,  and  Registrar  of  the 
Garter;  in  15 n.  Prebendary,  and  in  1512  Dean  of  York, 
Abbot  of  St.  Albans,  Dean  of  Hereford,  and  Precentor  of  St. 
Paul's;  in  15 13  he  got  the  Bishopric  of  Tournay  from  the 
French  king;  in  1 514  he  was  made  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  and, 
eight  months  after.  Archbishop  of  York.  In  151 5  Leo  X.  made 
him  Cardinal,  and  Henry  raised  him  to  be  Lord  Chancellor, 
Warham  having  resigned  through  his  intrigues  and  affronts.  In 
1 516  he  became  Papal  Legate,  and  thus  took  precedence  of 
Warham  even  in  spiritual  rank.  In  1 5 1 8  he  added  to  all  his 
other  honours  and  emoluments,  the  Bishopric  of  Bath ;  in  1521 
he  was  Ambassador  to  Charles  V.,  and  in    1529  he  became 

*  Cavendisli,  Life  of  Wolsey,   17. 


A.D.  isoj— 1530.]       The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  99 

Bishop  of  Winchester.  Nor  was  even  this  all,  for  he  long  held 
a  number  of  bishoprics  at  once,  as  agent  for  their  foreign  non- 
resident owners,  and  drew  large  revenues  from  them  as  such. 

That  one  man  should  have  held  so  many  offices  at  a  time 
was  only  in  accordance  with  immemorial  custom.  In  Arch- 
bishop Langham's  day  (1366 — 1376)  some  of  the  clergy, 
mostly  Italians,  and  many  of  them  living  at  Rome,  held  as 
many  as  twenty  benefices  and  dignities,  by  means  of  Papal 
*'  provisions,"  with  a  license  to  hold  as  many  more  as  they  could 
get.^  It  was  by  this  shameful  system  the  popes  rewarded  their 
officials  and  enriched  themselves,  for  they  received  a  percentage 
from  each  benefice.  Colet  in  his  youth  had  three  livings  and  a 
prebend,  though  not  even  in  deacon's  orders.'*  Nor  did  it  end 
with  the  Reformation.  With  some  other  abuses,  left  as  a  legacy 
from  Papal  times,  it  lasted,  in  a  modified  degree,  till  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  reign  ;  but  now,  thank  God,  the  Church  of 
England  is  free  from  it. 

In  Wolsey's  time,  ecclesiastical  benefices  were,  in  fact,  the 
ordinary  way  of  providing  salaries  for  the  high  officials  of  the 
State,  who  were,  as  a  rule,  clergymen.  Wolsey  received  his 
Abbacy  of  St.  Albans  to  repay  his  previous  expenditure  on  a 
mission  to  France.  But  his  love  of  splendour,  and  determina- 
tion to  dazzle  and  awe  all  classes,  led  him  to  a  grasping  eager- 
ness for  money,  abhorrent  alike  to  uprightness  and  self-respect. 
He  accepted  from  Louis  XII.  a  bishopric  in  France,  which  he  pre- 
sently sold  for  i2,ooolivres  a  year  for  life,  and  took  a  pension  of 
1,000  gold  crowns  a  year  as  a  bribe  for  his  influence  against 
Charles  V.  From  Francis  I.  he  took  a  sum  of  money  in  cash, 
with  a  yearly  pension,  and  exacted  a  promise  of  support  at 
Rome  in  his  intrigues  for  the  Papacy — in  return  for  secret  help 
with  his  master.  But  one  side  was  not  enough.  He  secretly 
received  pay  from  both,  though  to  serve  one  was  to  injure  the 

•  Collier's  Eccl.  Hist.,  iii.  128,  ed.  1852. 

*  Drummond's  Erasmus,  L  70. 


100  The  English  Reformation.         [ad.  1509-1530. 

other.  While  taking  money  from  the  French  king  he  was  en- 
joying from  Charles  V.,  the  deadly  enemy  of  France,  a  pension 
of  3,000  livres  a  year,  a  Spanish  bishopric  worth  5,000  ducats  a 
year,  with  a  bond  of  2,000  ducats  a  year  on  a  second ;  and 
Charles  found  himself  betrayed,  after  all,  for  having  offered  too 
little.  He  haggled  for  bribes  with  the  Venetian  ambassador.^ 
"  The  business  between  Venice  and  England  could  not  proceed 
till  he  received  a  hundred  Damascene  carpets."  From  the  Pope 
he  got  the  disposal  of  all  the  chief  sees  in  England,  receiving 
heavy  sums  at  each  vacancy.  He  "  administered  "  others,  as  I 
have  said,  for  Italian  absentees,  and  drew  a  share  of  the  revenues. 
He  was  paid  heavily  by  France,  or  by  Charles,  for  each  fresh 
treaty  or  new  departure  in  policy.  Money  he  must  have,  for  his 
state  was  kingly ;  he  would  have  preferred  it  honestly,  but  he 
would  get  it  dishonestly  rather  than  want.  The  age  allowed  vails 
even  to  Prime  Ministers,  from  subject  and  alien  alike,  and  he 
never  shut  his  hand  against  any.  Giustiniani  estimated  his 
income,  from  a  few  sources,  at  42,000  ducats  a  year,  a  sum  equal 
in  purchasing  power  to  over  two  millions  and  a  quarter  of 
our  money. 

The  consciousness  of  supreme  ability  may  palliate  his  deter- 
mination to  be  supreme,  but  it  cannot  justify  the  way  he  used 
his  supremacy.  Towards  the  nobility,  perhaps  to  counter- 
balance his  humble  origin,  he  was  arrogant  and  insulting  to  the 
last  degree,  and  almost  more  so  to  the  ambassadors  in  London. 
He  opened  the  letters  of  the  French  Embassy ;  shook  the  Papal 
Nuncio,  and  rated  him  soundly ;  told  the  Venetian  ambassador 
"  his  people  were  thieves,"  and  gave  him  his  hand  to  kiss.  Even 
Shakspeare  uses  the  phrase  "  This  Ipswich  fellow's  insolence." 
His  one  aim  in  all  his  policy,  from  first  to  last,  was  to  raise  him- 
self to  the  Papacy.  He  was  thirty-nine  or  forty  at  Henry's 
accession,  the  young  king  himself  being  only  a  boy  of  eighteen ; 
but  instead  of  trying  to  guide  him  as  a  Churchman  ought,  he 


*  Giustiniani's  Despatches,  2,  104. 


Aj).  iso^iSjo].       The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  10 1 

encouraged  him  to  every  folly  and  vice,  that  the  business  of  the 
country  might  fall  into  his  own  hands.  His  intrigues  at  home 
and  abroad,  to  get  higher  and  higher,  were  ceaseless  and  utterly 
immoral.  "  He  never  says  what  he  means,  but  the  reverse," 
writes  the  Venetian  ambassador.^ 

Towards  his  master,  Henry,  he  bore  himself  as  a  mere 
instrument  to  be  used  for  any  ends,  however  immoral.  The 
tendency  of  the  age  was  to  exalt  the  Crown  at  the  expense  of 
the  people,  and  Henry  shared  it  to  the  full.  He  would  not  if 
possible  be  less  a  king  than  his  rivals  of  France  or  Spain,  whose 
will  was  absolute  in  their  States,  and  Wolsey  stooped  to  carry 
out  this  despotic  policy.  The  destruction  of  the  aristocracy  by 
the  civil  wars  had  opened  the  way  for  it,  and,  though  himself 
sprung  from  the  people,  and  as  a  Churchman  their  natural 
defender  against  tyranny,  he  eagerly  took  advantage  of  the 
national  helplessness  to  raise  himself  by  raising  the  king.  De- 
liberately setting  himself  to  crush  the  ancient  constitution  of 
the  country,  he  sought  to  hand  over  England  to  Henry  as  the 
plaything  of  his  royal  will ;  the  Church  alone,  with  Wolsey  at  its 
head,  remaining  free.  To  make  himself  great  he  betrayed  the 
nation,  and  made  its  ruler  a  Turkish  Sultan,  with  an  absolute 
power  over  the  property,  the  life,  and — if  Henry  could  have  had 
it  so — over  even  the  thoughts  of  all.  He  hated  Parliaments  as 
a  relic  of  freedom  ;  browbeat  them  when  summoned,  and  did 
without  them  as  far  as  possible.  He  was  willing  to  sacrifice 
England,  and  demoralize  Henry  into  a  tyrant,  that  he  himselt 
might  keep  on  the  top,  as  a  step  towards  the  tiara,  under  a 
master  he  had  helped  to  make  absolute;  and  he  had  all  the 
vices  of  a  slave  who  knows  that  his  very  existence  hangs  on 
that  master's  breath.  The  royal  motto  that  governing  means 
lying,'^  never  had  a  more  sincere  disciple,  for  in  his  whole  career 
he  deceived  every  one  by  turns  with  whom  he  had  relations,  till, 
in  the  end,  his  duplicity  towards  Henry  himself  brought  his  ruin. 


•  Despatches,  i,  57.  *  Re'gner  c'est  dissimuler.     Louis  XIV. 


102  The  English  Reformation.        [a-b.  1509-153* 

A  man  utterly  regardless  of  truth  and  principle  could  not  be 
expected  to  be  moral.  Burnet  accuses  him  of  being  diseased 
by  his  vices  ;^  and  we  at  least  know  that  he  had  a  son  and 
daughter.  Nor  was  he  ashamed  to  make  the  former  a  church- 
man, and  heap  no  fewer  than  thirteen  benefices  on  him,  or  to 
make  the  latter  Abbess  of  Salisbury.  He  tried  indeed  to  get  his 
son  made  Bishop  of  Durham,  the  richest  see  in  England,  with 
the  finest  episcopal  palace  in  London,  but  Henry  would  not 
allow  it.  It  is  only  fair  to  say,  however,  that  he  grew  moral 
when  he  had  outlived  the  capacity  and  opportunity  for 
vice. 

Yet  he  was  not  without  many  good  points.  Though  set 
against  any  thorough  reform,  he  never  bore  himself  cruelly  to 
the  Reformers,  but  made  penance  easy  to  them ;  and  he  never 
took  any  one's  life  for  his  opinions.  His  bearing  and  public 
character  in  some  aspects,  at  the  height  of  his  glory,  are  vividly 
brought  before  us  by  the  Venetian  ambassador.  "  He  is  very 
handsome,"  says  he, "  learned,  of  vast  ability,  and  indefatigable. 
He,  alone,  transacts  the  same  business  as  occupies  all  the 
magistracies,  offices,  and  councils  of  Venice,  both  civil  and 
criminal.  All  State  affairs,  likewise,  are  managed  by  him,  let 
their  nature  be  what  it  may." 

"  He  is  pensive,  and  has  the  reputation  of  being  extremely 
just  (as  Lord  Chancellor).  He  favours  the  people  exceedingly, 
especially  the  poor,  hearing  their  suits,  and  seeking  to  despatch 
them  instantly.  He  also  makes  lawyers  plead  gratis  for  all 
paupers.  He  is  in  very  great  repute ;  seven  times  more  than  if 
he  were  Pope." 

Left  to  gamble,  to  indulge  in  empty  magnificence,  and  play 
the  profligate  to  his  will,  the  young  king  was  virtually,  for  years, 
in  the  hands  of  the  astute  ecclesiastic ;  but  as  youth  passed,  and 
the  strong  will,  become  brutal  in  its  self-assertion  by  Wolsey's 
long  gratification  of  its  every  whim,  turned  towards  matters  of 


*  Burnet's  Reformation,  Abridged  by  Author,  5,  d 


A.D.  1509-1S30.]       The  Eve  of  the  Reformation.  103 

State,  the  fate  of  the  splendid  favourite  hung  daily  on  a  finer 
thread.  He  had  succeeded  in  rousing  against  himself  the  hatred 
of  every  class  except  the  poorest,  and,  at  last,  his  duplicity 
ruined  him  with  his  master  when  a  secret  letter  he  had  sent  to 
the  Pope  was  discovered.  He  had  infuriated  the  people  by 
demanding  forced  loans  and  free  gifts  for  the  king,  and  by 
issuing  illegal  commissions  to  levy  oppressive  taxes  illegally,  to 
be  spent  on  the  king's  reckless  caprices — infuriated  them  so 
much,  indeed,  that  rebellion  was  averted  only  by  Henry,  aban- 
doning the  scheme.  The  House  of  Commons  hated  him  for 
trying  to  overawe  them  into  granting  taxes  without  discussion : 
the  nobility  hated  him  for  his  origin,  and  for  the  pride  which 
made  him  the  first  ecclesiastic  that  ever  wore  silks ;  who  main- 
tained a  state  like  that  of  a  great  king;  who  used  the  cere- 
monies in  worship  which  were  reserved  to  popes  alone ;  who 
made  bishops  and  abbots  serve  him  in  his  household,  and  dukes 
and  earls  give  him  the  water  and  towel  to  wash.  The  clergy 
abhorred  him  for  taxing  them  to  get  money  for  the  king ;  for 
his  grasping  so  many  dignities,  and,  above  all,  for  his  getting 
a  Bull  empowering  him  to  visit  all  monasteries,  and  all  the 
clergy,  and  to  dispense  with  all  the  laws  of  the  Church  in 
reference  to  them,  for  a  year,  while  he  reformed  them. 

For,  withal,  he  was  too  astute  not  to  see  that  reform  was 
needed,  but  his  only  idea  was  to  sew  a  new  patch  on  the  rent 
of  the  old  garment.  He  would  spread  education,  and  for  this 
he  founded  Cardinal  College,  now  Christ  Church,  at  Oxford, 
from  the  spoil  of  suppressed  monasteries.  He  would  reform  the 
morals  of  the  clergy,  though  his  own  were  so  wretched ;  restrict 
pluralities  and  non-residence, while  himself  the  grossest  offender; 
keep  out  foreign  heretical  influences,  and  suppress  as  gently 
as  might  be,  heresy  at  home,  and  found  new  bishoprics*  to 
conciliate  the  Church.  He  aimed,  indeed,  at  playing  the 
Reformer  on  this  scale  for  Christendom,  and  hoped  to  have 

*  J.  H.  Blunt's  Reformation,  9a 


104  ^-^'^  English  Reformation.         [a.d.  1509-1530. 

the  opportunity  of  doing  so,  by  intriguing  through  half  a  Hfe, 
for  the  Papacy. 

He  clung  to  this  dream,  indeed,  to  the  end ;  for  his  last  great 
idea  seems  to  have  been  to  join  France  and  England  in  an 
alliance  to  dictate  reforms,  through  himself,  to  the  whole  Church  ; 
but  their  value  could  have  been  little  in  a  poHtical  aspect,  since 
he  claimed  the  absolute  immunity  of  the  clergy  from  trial  by 
secular  courts,  even  for  criminal  offences,  and  little  good  could 
have  come  to  practical  religion  from  one  whose  whole  life  showed 
that  he  did  not  know  what  it  meant. 


i 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  HOUR  BEFORE  DAWN. 

AT  the  accession  of  Henry  VIII.  our  language  was  spoken 
in  no  other  country.  Spain  was  the  greatest  European 
power,  and  France,  which  was  nearly  her  equal,  of  course 
claimed  to  be  her  superior.  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  the 
first  State  in  rank,  and  when  united  with  the  Spanish  crown, 
under  Charles  V.,  it  made  him  apparently  the  dictator  of 
Europe.  The  Turk  was  a  terrible  foe,  ever  threatening  Chris- 
tendom. He  had  held  Constantinople  for  fifty-six  years — had 
conquered  Greece,  threatened  Hungary,  and  sacked  Otranto, 
at  the  heel  of  Italy,  everywhere  showing  himself  the  same  ruth- 
less barbarian  as  he  is  to-day.  Prussia  was  still  a  desert  of 
sands  and  marshes.  Holland  was  ground  under  the  feet  of 
Spain.  Venice  was  rich  enough  to  tempt  campaigns  to  plunder 
her.  Italy  was  the  battle-ground  of  France  and  Spain.  The 
gigantic  spectre  of  the  Pope  cast  his  shadow,  like  Death,  over  all 
lands.  England  had  little  weight  in  Europe.  Her  civil  wars 
had  for  the  time  paralyzed  her,  and  her  very  smallness  told 
against  her,  so  that  men  spoke  of  her  as  important  only  when 
allied  to  France  or  Spain,  or  to  the  German  princes.  Her 
population  was  only  about  four  millions,  and  of  these,  all  the 
Welsh  spoke  Welsh,  and  the  Cornish  spoke  Cornish.  The 
great  towns  and  cities  of  our  day  were  mostly  insignificant  or 
unknown.     Trade  was  limited  to  a  few  centres,  and  travelling 


io6  The  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1509-1S19. 

through  the  country  was  as  difficult  as  it  is  now  in  the  back- 
woods of  Canada.  Thrice  as  many  men  spoke  French  as  spoke 
English,  five  times  as  many  spoke  German,  and  seven  times  as 
many  spoke  Spanish. 

Henry's  accession,  in  1509,  filled  England  with  joy.  For  the 
first  time  since  Richard  II.  it  had  a  king  with  an  indisputable 
title,  and  thus  needed  no  longer  fear  civil  war.  The  personal 
qualities  of  the  young  king,  moreover,  won  all  hearts,  for, 
though  only  eighteen,  he  was  a  pattern  of  manly  beauty  ; 
famous  in  all  athletic  sports ;  noble  in  his  bearing  ;  bright  and 
intelligent ;  courteous  to  all,  and  accomplished  beyond  most  of 
his  age  in  any  rank.  In  theology — unfortunately,  as  it  proved — 
he  took  great  delight,  and  he  was  so  good  a  musician  that  some 
of  his  compositions  survive  even  to  this  day. 

Six  years  after  his  accession — in  151 5 — and  again,  in  15 19, 
when  he  was  twenty-eight,  we  have  notices  of  him  from  the 
Venetian  ambassador.  "  He  is  not  only  very  expert  in  arms, 
but  gifted  with  mental  accomplishments  of  every  sort.  He 
speaks  English,  French,  Spanish,  and  Latin ;  understands 
Italian  well ;  plays  on  almost  every  instrument ;  sings  and  com- 
poses fairly ;  is  prudent  and  sage,  and,  besides,  is  so  good  a 
friend  to  the  State  that  we  consider  it  certain  no  Italian  sovereign 
ever  surpassed  him  in  this  respect."^  "  He  is  extremely  hand- 
some. Nature  could  not  have  done  more  for  him  ;  he  is  very  fair 
and  admirably  proportioned.  He  hears  three  masses  a  day 
when  he  hunts,  and  sometimes  five  on  other  days.  In  hunting 
he  tires  eight  or  ten  horses  in  succession.  He  is  very  fond  of 
tennis,  at  which  game  it  is  the  prettiest  thing  in  the  world  to 
see  him  play,  his  fair  skin  glowing  through  a  shirt  of  the  finest 
texture."  Pasqualigo  describes  him  as  "  the  very  handsomest 
potentate  I  ever  set  eyes  upon  ;  above  the  usual  height,  with  an 
extremely  fine  calf  to  his  leg,  his  complexion  very  fair  and 
bright,  with  auburn  hair,  combed  straight  and  short,  and  a 

*  Giustiniani,  i.  76. 


A.D.  IS20.1  The  Hour  before  Dawn.  107 

round  face  so  very  beautiful  that  it  would  become  a  pretty 
woman.  He  draws  the  bow  with  greater  strength  than  any 
man  in  England,  and  jousts  marvellously."* 

Such  was  the  man  whom  Wolsey,  at  more  than  double  his 
age,  had  in  his  hands,  to  make  or  mar.  Under  honest  and 
upright  guidance  he  might  have  become  an  ideal  king  :  under 
that  of  the  future  Cardinal  he  became  a  Turkish  Sultan,  insati- 
ably vain ;  prodigally  ostentatious  and  spendthrift ;  and  so 
fiercely  tyrannical  that  neither  law,  morality,  nor  pity  could  for 
a  moment  restrain  him.  But  the  tiger  lay  asleep  in  his  earlier 
nature,  and  might  perhaps  never  have  shown  itself  had  he  been 
less  carefully  corrupted.  Yet  by  1520,  when  he  was  not  yet 
thirty,  he  had  learned  thoroughly  to  play  the  despot ;  and  could 
conceal  his  hatreds  perfectly  till  the  moment  arrived  to  show 
them.  Eighteen  months  after  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  hated 
as  a  descendant  of  Edward  III.,  had  given  him  an  imaginary 
offence,  he  had  him  arrested,  and  sent  before  the  Lords  for 
conviction ;  and  on  the  House  of  Commons  hesitating  to  pass 
the  necessary  Bill  of  Attainder  till  they  had  what  they  deemed 
sufficient  efvidence,  sent  for  Montague,  a  leading  member,  and 
addressed  him — "  Ho  !  man,  so  they  will  not  suffer  my  Bill  to 
pass,  will  they  not  ?  Get  it  passed  by  to-morrow,  or  else  this 
head  of  yours  will  be  off."  It  did  pass,  and  Buckingham  was 
judicially  murdered.  Henry  was  then  only  thirty.  No  wonder 
that  More,  even  when  Henry  kept  him  always  near  him,  and 
walked  in  the  garden  at  Chelsea  with  his  arm  round  his  neck, 
told  his  son-in-law  not  to  count  much  on  that,  for  if  his  head 
would  win  him  a  castle  in  France,  were  there  war,  it  should  not 
fail  to  go. 

Wolsey  had,  in  fact,  only  too  thoroughly  succeeded  in 
developing  all  that  was  worst  in  his  character.  His  father  had 
left  him  ;^i, 800,000,  a  sum  equal  then  to  twelve  times  as  much 
now ;    but  it  was  all  squandered  in  three  years.     In  1 5 1 9, 

*  Giustiniani,  i.  86  (i5i5)>    Henry's  age,  24. 


io8  The  English  Reformation.         [a.d.  i?o9-i54?. 

Guistiniani  tells  us  that  "Henry's  incessant  gambling  had 
made  him  of  late  lose  a  treasure  of  gold.  He  loses,  at  times, 
from  six  to  eight  thousand  golden  ducats  a  day" — that  is,  from 
about  thirty-six  to  about  forty-eight  thousand  pounds.  His 
hideous  self-worship,  fanned  for  selfish  ends  by  Wolsey,  had,  in 
truth,  early  grown  to  look  on  England  as  existing  simply  for  his 
gratification,  and  on  the  nation  as  holding  even  their  lives  only 
at  his  will.  It  is  all  important  in  estimating  the  men  around 
him,  or  the  Parliaments  of  his  reign,  to  remember  that  they 
lived  under  such  an  Oriental  despotism. 

The  condition  of  the  people  in  Henry's  day  was  far  from 
what  some  have  painted  it.  The  sons  of  gentlemen  were  as  yet 
thought  to  degrade  themselves  by  education,  which  was  only  fit 
for  the  sons  of  peasants.^  Indeed,  even  in  Edward  VI. 's  reign, 
an  Act  was  passed  to  secure  benefit  of  clergy  to  such  noblemen 
as  could  neither  read  nor  write.  The  low  tone  of  public 
morality  which  had  made  it  possible  for  Henry  VII.  to  oppress 
and  plunder  his  subjects  under  forms  of  law,  was  growing  worse 
and  worse,  though  his  son,  to  signalize  his  accession,  put  to 
death  the  agents  his  father  had  employed  thus  infamously, 
while  retaining  the  plunder  they  had  extorted.  Bribery  and 
corruption  reigned  largely  in  the  jury-box  and  on  the  bench.* 
Truth  between  man  and  man  was  so  little  regarded  that  Henry 
twice  cancelled  his  debts,  though  promised,  under  the  great 
seal,  to  be  duly  paid.  In  fact,  society  was  rotten  to  the  very 
core,  from  the  king  to  the  beggar.^  The  immorality  of  the 
Church  had  gradually  brought  that  of  the  laity  to  its  level. 

The  position  of  the  poor  was  especially  wretched.  The  same 
causes  that  had  created  so  much  pauperism  in  the  former 
century  were  still  active.  "  When  a  master  died  or  became  too 
poor,  or  when  servants  fell  ill,  they  were  forthwith  thrust  out  of 
doors,"  says  Sir  Thomas  More,  "  either  to  starve  for  hunger  or 


^  Furnivall's  Babee's  Book,  xiit.  "  Latimer's  Sermons,  pass. 

*  See  Art.  in  Westminster  Rev.  vol.  30,  p.  27. 


A.D.  isiij  The  Hour  before  Dawn.  109 

manfully  to  play  the  rogue."  One-third  of  the  population  was 
unprofitable  to  the  State.  England  had  once  been  the  wealthiest 
part  of  Christendom,  but  it  now  had  more  beggars  than  any 
other  country.  Rents  had  risen  to  three  times  their  old  rates, 
and  food  and  clothing  were  much  dearer.  Landlords  had  no 
longer  any  feudal  tenderness  to  their  tenants,  but  constantly 
evicted  them  from  the  small  holdings  which  had  hitherto  been 
the  rule,  and  absorbed  these  in  large  sheep-farms,  leaving  the 
households  thus  cast  off  to  wander  into  the  world  as  beggars. 
Dismissed  from  estates,  selfish  laws  shut  them  out  from  entering 
towns  or  earning  a  living  in  any  handicraft.  The  crowds  of 
soldiers  discharged  from  the  wars,  of  retainers  set  adrift  by  the 
policy  enforced  against  their  masters  by  Henry  VII.,  swelled 
the  number  of  paupers.  The  poverty  in  London  was  appalling. 
Henry  and  Wolsey,  and  a  few  more,  here  and  there,  might 
revel  in  indulgence,  but  huge  classes  of  the  nation  were  un- 
speakably wretched. 

In  the  first  years  of  Henry's  reign  the  demand  for  eccle- 
siastical reform  was  still  raised  from  within  the  Church  itself ; 
nor  was  there,  as  yet,  any  thought  in  its  most  liberal  members 
of  seceding  from  it.  The  friends  of  the  New  Learning  pro- 
posed only  the  correction  of  confessed  abuses  by  the  Church 
authorities  themselves.  Appointed  in  1511  10  preach  at  St. 
Paul's,  before  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury,  Dean  Colet  fear- 
lessly denounced  the  sins  of  his  brethren.  They  were  told  that  they 
"set  by  procurers  and  finders  of  lusts  ;"  that  they  were  blind  to 
all  that  did  not  bring  them  gain ;  that  they  thought  only  on  fat 
benefices  and  high  promotions ;  on  tithes  and  rents  ;  that  they 
clutched  at  any  number  of  livings,  and  sought  pensions  on 
others  resigned.  "  To  be  short,"  said  he,  "  all  the  corruptness, 
all  the  decay  of  the  Church,  all  the  offences  of  the  world,  come 
of  the  covetousness  of  priests."  Both  priests  and  bishops  were 
busied,  besides,  he  went  on  to  say,  in  continual  secular  occupa- 
tions, to  the  dishonour  of  the  priesthood  and  the  confounding  it 
with  the  laity.    Reformation,  he  cried,  must  begin  with  the 


no  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1511. 

bishops.  New  laws  were  not  wanted,  but  enforcement  of  those 
already  existing.  They  should  not  ordain  men  without  proper 
inquiry;  should  set  their  faces  against  nepotism,  against  simony, 
against  non-residence,  against  the  clergy  being  merchants, 
hunters,  usurers,  wearing  arms,  being  common  players,  haunting 
tavems,  or  associating  questionably  with  women.  The  monks, 
also,  were  to  be  purged  of  similar  faults.  The  bishops  them- 
selves were  not,  moreover,  continued  the  faithful  preacher,  to 
overlook  their  own  errors.  Some  of  them  were  worldly;  others 
non-resident  and  negligent  of  their  duties;  others  spent 
the  money  of  the  Church  on  mere  grandeur.  The  episcopal 
courts  needed  reform,  and  provincial  councils  should  be  held ; 
and  when  the  clergy  were  reformed,  the  reformation  of  the  laity 
would  follow.^  Such  a  man,  pure  and  simple  in  his  own  life, 
brave  and  earnest  in  his  convictions,  and  preaching  as  if  "  in- 
spired,— raised  in  voice,  eye,  his  whole  countenance  and  bear- 
ing, out  of  himself,"  might  have  roused  the  Church  if  anyone 
could  have  done  so,  but  the  malady  was  too  deep  to  be  cured  by 
words. 

Such  a  sermon,  the  first  trumpet  blast  of  the  coming  Re- 
formation, was  furiously  resented,  and  brought  Colet  into  no 
little  danger  of  a  capital  charge,  for  it  was  not  his  first  or 
gravest  offence.  He  had  not  only  founded  and  endowed  St. 
Paul's  School,  for  the  free  education  of  153  children  in  the 
New  Learning,  but  had  dared  to  translate  the  Lord's  Prayer 
into  English,  with  comments  for  popular  use.  At  Oxford  he 
had  scandalized  the  clergy  by  discarding  all  conventional  rules 
in  his  lectures  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,'and  going  directly  to  the 
sacred  text  itself  as  the  supreme  authority,  instead  of  repeating 
traditional  interpretations.  At  St.  Paul's  he  had  begun  regular 
preaching,  and  was  lecturing  steadily  through  the  Gospels,  the 
Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  had  created  such  an  excite- 
ment that  vast  crowds  came  from  many  miles  to  hear  him.   His 

*  See  the  Sennon,  in  Knighton's  Life  of  Colet. 


A  D.  1511—1516.]  The  Hour  before  Dawn,  1 1 1 

doctrinal  innovations  were  no  less  offensive  than  his  boldness  of 
speech,  for  "  he  condemned  "  images,  auricular  confession,  and 
purgatory,  no  less  freely  than  he  censured  the  shortcomings  of 
his  brethren.  Fitz  James,  Bishop  of  London,  a  fierce  and  igno- 
rant bigot,  forthwith,  therefore,  accused  him  to  Warham,  the 
archbishop,  as  a  heretic,  but  the  personal  friendship  of  the 
primate  and  their  common  friendship  with  Erasmus  saved  him. 
Henry  himself,  indeed,  stood  by  him,  as  well  as  Warham. 
"  Let  every  man  have  his  own  doctor,"  said  the  young  king, 
after  a  long  interview ;  "  but  this  man  is  the  doctor  for  me." 
Yet,  both  Tyndale  and  Latimer,  years  after,  spoke  of  the  peril  of 
burning  in  which  he  had  been. 

The  interests  and  the  ignorance  of  the  clergy  made  it  hope- 
less, however,  that  any  Reformation  should  begin  with  them  as 
a  body.  All  such  movements,  indeed,  invariably  rise  in  the 
laity.  The  dead  conservatism  of  a  religious  corporation, 
fostered  by  prejudice  and  self-interest,  is  extolled  as  orthodoxy, 
and  change  of  any  kind  branded  with  evil  names.  Hence, 
though  the  New  Learning  might  here  and  there  have  a  few  timid 
patrons,  Uke  Warham,  among  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  it 
encountered  the  deadliest  resistance  over  Christendom  from 
ecclesiastics  of  every  kind  as  a  class.  In  Germany,  Reuchlin, 
in  1 5 13,  was  involved  in  a  fierce  dispute  with  the  Dominican 
Grand  Inquisitor,  who  demanded  that  everything  in  Hebrew 
should  be  burnt.  "They  call  Grecians  heretics,"  says  the 
great  scholar ;  "  denounce  the  New  Learning  as  contrary  to  the 
Roman  faith,  and  call  for  our  being  handed  over  to  the  magis- 
trates." Erasmus  had  a  similar  experience  in  the  opposition  to 
his  Greek  New  Testament  published  in  1 5 1 6.  At  Antwerp  a 
preacher  publicly  lamented  that  theology  and  sacred  learning 
were  no  more ;  that  men  had  risen  who  were  tinkering  the  Holy 
Gospels  and  even  the  Lord's  Prayer ;  "  as  if,"  says  Erasmus, 
"  I  were  altering  Matthew  or  Luke,  and  not  rather  they,  by 
whose  ignorance  and  neglect  what  these  have  written  has  been 
corrupted.'* 


1 1 2  The  English  Reformation.         [a.d.  1503-1513. 

Everywhere  the  cry  rose  that  "  the  Church  was  in  danger," 
that  religion  was  to  be  changed,  and  that  those  who  took  to 
Latin  or  Greek  were  "heretics"  and  "Antichrist."  Even 
Erasmus's  edition  of  Jerome  had  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  a  fierce 
opposition.  "  Grave  men,  who  were  great  theologians  in  their 
own  eyes,  cried  out  by  all  that  was  sacred  not  to  let  any  Greek 
or  Hebrew  be  in  the  text;  that  there  was  danger  in  these 
studies,  and  that  they  were  good  for  nothing  but  to  tickle  idle 
curiosity."^  Tyndale,  the  martyr,  could  remember  how  the 
obscurantist  disciples  of  the  Schoolmen  "  raged  in  every  pulpit 
against  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  and  how  the  teachers  of 
classical  Latin  suffered  at  their  hands;  how  some  preachers 
beat  the  pulpits  with  their  fists  for  madness,  and  roared  with 
open  mouth  that,  if  they  had  a  Terence  or  a  Virgil,  they  would 
burn  it  in  the  fire,  and  how  all  good  learning  had  decayed  and 
was  clean  lost  since  Latin  began  to  be  studied."'^ 

Julius  IL,  the  Pope  at  the  accession  of  Henry,  in  1509,  was  in 
many  ways  a  representative  of  the  age.  His  reign  from  1503 
to  151 3  was  that  of  a  fierce  soldier  rather  than  of  an  eccle- 
siastic, for  he  spent  his  pontificate  in  constant  wars,  himself 
clad  in  full  armour,  leading  on  hired  soldiery  to  the  battlefield 
and  the  storming  breach.  Erasmus,  who  saw  his  triumphal 
entry  into  Bologna  in  1 506,  never  forgot  the  sight  of  the  High 
Priest  of  Christendom  celebrating  a  triumph  over  his  fellow- 
countrymen  with  the  f>omp  of  a  heathen  conqueror,  and  spoke 
of  him,  even  after  many  years,  as  the  "  Impious  Julius."  Such 
a  life  had  to  leave  the  bottomless  gulf  of  Church  abuses  un- 
touched, and  shocked  Europe  hardly  less  than  the  crimes  of 
Alexander  VL 

In  such  times  pope  and  priest  alike  were  on  their  good  be- 
haviour more  than  even  their  enemies  could  have  dreamed. 
Eyes  were  upon  them  which,  in  after  years,  might  make  or  mar 

*  These  quotations  are  from  the  texts  in  Gieseler,  v.  I96,  197. 

•  Answer  to  Sir  Thomas  More.    Works,  iii.  75. 


A.D.  1510-1513.]  The  Hour  before  Dawn.  113 

them.  In  1 5 10,  under  this  ambitious  and  warlike  pope,  Luther 
was  in  Rome ;  sent  thither  on  a  deputation  from  his  monastery 
at  Erfurt.  "  On  arriving,"  says  he,  "  I  fell  on  my  knees, 
raised  my  hands  to  heaven,  and  exclaimed,  '  Hail,  holy  Rome  ! 
made  holy  by  the  holy  martyrs,  and  by  the  blood  that  has  been 
spilt  here.' "  In  his  fervour,  he  adds,  he  hastened  to  view  the 
sacred  places,  saw  all,  believed  all.  But  he  soon  perceived  that 
he  was  the  only  person  who  did  believe.  Christianity  seemed 
totally  forgotten  in  this  centre  of  the  Christian  world.  The 
Pope  spoke  only  of  blood  and  war.  Those  around  him  were 
politicians,  diplomatists,  or  men  of  letters,  who  would  not  open 
their  Bibles  for  fear  of  hurting  the  purity  of  their  classical 
Latin.  In  the  churches  things  were  as  bad.  The  priests 
gabbled  the  service  so  quickly  that  they  were  done  with  it 
before  he  had  got  through  the  "  Gospel."^  "  I  have  heard 
them  make  a  boast  of  their  free  thinking,"  says  he.  "  Re- 
peatedly, in  consecrating  the  host,  they  would  say,  *  Bread  thou 
art,  and  bread  thou  wilt  remain.  Wine  thou  art,  and  wine  thou 
wilt  remain ! '"  In  a  fortnight  the  horrified  German  had  left 
Rome.'* 

John,  son  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  crowned  as  Leo  X. — the 
successor  of  Julius — reflected  in  a  light  of  his  own  the  spirit  of 
the  age.  Born  at  Florence  in  1475,  ^^  was  ordained  a  deacon 
at  seven,  an  abbot  at  eight,  and  a  cardinal  at  sixteen  I  In 
1 51 3,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight,  he  became,  within  five  days, 
priest,  bishop,  and  pope.  Personally  an  accomplished  scholar, 
and  a  patron  of  art  and  learning,  as  became  one  of  the  Medici, 
he  immortalized  himself  by  completing  the  vast  work  of 
building  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  which  his  predecessor  had  begun. 
Kindly  and  generous,  fond  of  magnificence,  and  proud  beyond 
measure,  in  religion  he  was  a  mere  heathen,  if  anything.  His 
summers  were  spent  in  the  country,  in  hunting,  shooting,  and 
fishing,  varied  by  the  pleasures  of  literary  society.     In  winter 

*  Like  some  of  the  Ritualists,  now.     '  Michelet's  Luther,  16. 


1 14  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1517. 

he  returned  to  Rome,  to  hold  a  briUiant  court.  No  expense 
was  too  great  to  be  lavished  on  festivities  spiritual  or  temporal — 
on  amusements  and  theatres,  on  presents  and  marks  of  favour.^ 
Cardinal  Bibbiena  wrote,  "  The  only  thing  we  want  is  a  court 
with  ladies."  Ariosto  was  in  his  glory ;  Macchiavelli  had 
dedicated  his  writings  to  Leo,  and  Raffaele  was  peopling  the 
walls  of  the  Vatican  for  him  with  more  than  human  forms. 
Cardinals  wrote  tragedies  and  comedies  not  wanting  in  talent, 
but  sadly  deficient  in  decency.  It  was  the  fashion  to  call  in 
question  the  very  principles  of  Christianity.  Erasmus  declares 
himself  astonished  at  the  blasphemies  that  met  his  ears.  Leo 
had  an  exquisite  taste,  was  passionately  fond  of  music,  and, 
while  he  filled  his  rooms  with  antique  statues,  devoted  his  spare 
moments  to  heathen  authors.  The  morals  of  a  court  so  volup- 
tuous were  those  of  the  day,  though  the  pope  himself  at  least 
respected  outward  decency.  Pagan  Rome,  with  its  luxury  and 
its  irreligion,  had  risen  again  from  the  grave. 

Strangely  enough,  it  was,  indirectly,  Leo's  splendour  that 
brought  about  the  Reformation.  Julius  IL  had  founded 
St.  Peter's,  and  Leo  determined  to  finish  it,  but  the  expense, 
added  to  that  of  his  luxurious  court,  was  so  enormous,  that  every 
possible  means  of  raising  funds  was  acceptable. 

The  Sale  of  Indulgences  had  for  centuries  been  an  import- 
ant item  in  the  huge  profits  of  Rome.  It  was  given  out  that 
the  infinite  merits  of  Christ,  and  the  excess  of  the  good  works 
of  the  saints,  beyond  those  needed  for  their  own  salvation, 
formed  an  inexhaustible  treasury  from  which  the  Church  might 
draw  for  the  benefit  of  anyone,  on  special  conditions.  By 
satisfying  these,  not  only  the  penance  attached  to  particular 
sins  and  crimes  by  the  Church,  but  also  the  pains  of  purgatory, 
which  awaited  the  transgressor  after  dsath,  might  be  escaped. 
The  conditions  first  imposed  when  the  system  was  fully  developed 


«  Ranke's  History  of  the  Popes  of  the  fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Cen- 
turies, i.  53. 


A.D.  IS  17.]  The  Hour  before  Dawn.  115 

in  the  eleventh  century,  by  Urban  II.,  were  the  going  on  crusade 
to  recover  the  Holy  Land  from  the  infidel ;  but  erelong  it  was 
sufficient  to  hire  a  soldier  for  that  purpose,  and,  still  later,  any- 
one who  gave  enough  money  for  any  purpose  specified  by  a 
pope,  was  accepted. 

In  what  were  called  the  Jubilee  years,  this  lucrative  invention 
had  been  carried  to  amazing  lengths.  In  1300,  all  who  came 
to  Rome,  and  spent  at  least  fifteen  days  there,  of  course  at  a 
large  outlay,  were  promised  the  fullest  forgiveness  of  their  sins ; 
and  so  well  had  this  plan  filled  the  ever  gaping  treasure  chests 
of  the  Roman  Court,  that  such  jubilees  were,  at  last,  repeated 
every  twenty-fifth  year.  In  1400,  Boniface  even  hit  upon  the 
device  of  supplementary  Jubilee  years,  during  which  sellers  of 
indulgences  were  sent  through  Christendom,  offering  the  for- 
giveness of  sins  at  anyone's  door  for  the  amount  it  would  have 
cost  to  have  made  the  Jubilee  visit  to  Rome.  Paul  II,,  in  his 
reign,  from  1464  to  1471,  even  granted  indulgences  to  the 
Churches  of  different  countries,  to  sell  to  whom  they  liked,  but 
only  on  condition  of  the  bulk  of  the  receipts  being  duly  remitted 
to  Rome. 

Julius  II.  had  offered  this  easy  way  of  escaping  Church  censure 
here  and  purgatory  hereafter,  to  all  who  contributed  towards 
building  St.  Peter's  Church,  at  Rome;  and  Leo,  in  15 17,  wish- 
ing to  finish  the  magnificent  structure,  continued,  and  even 
extended  the  traffic,  under  pretence  of  wanting  funds  for  a 
crusade  against  the  Turk.  Huckstering  monks  were,  as  of  old, 
the  brokers  of  these  wretched  wares,  which  they  cried  and 
cheapened  in  every  part  of  Christendom.  The  right  to  sell  them 
in  Germany  was  bought  for  a  large  sum  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Magdeburg,  who  forthwith  sent  monks  to  hawk  them  through 
all  the  German  States.  An  attempt  to  introduce  them  into 
England,  in  1489,  had  produced  only  ^^49  in  six  months;  and 
another,  made  now,  failed,  on  Henry's  demanding  from  a  third 
to  a  half  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales ;  but  in  Germany  the  traffic 
was  equally  shameless  and  profitable. 


ii6  The  English  Reformation,  tA.D,  1517. 

One Tetzel,aDominican friar,  of  loose  morals, but  energetic  and 
noisy,  had  been  appointed  the  chief  salesman  of  them  in  Saxony. 
His  form  of  indulgence  was  complete  enough  to  satisfy  any  who 
believed  in  it,  for  it  absolved  the  buyer  "  first,  from  all  ecclesi- 
astical censures,  however  incurred,"  and  then  from  "  all  sins, 
transgressions,  and  excesses,  how  enormous  soever  they  may 
have  been ;  "  remitted  all  punishment  in  purgatory  on  their 
account,  and  restored  the  possessor  to  "  the  innocence  and 
purity  he  possessed  at  baptism,  so  that  when  he  died,  the  gates 
of  punishment  would  be  shut,  and  those  of  Paradise  opened," 
and  this  however  long  he  might  live  after  buying  the  indulgence. 
There  were,  however,  exceptions,  one  of  which,  at  least,  seems 
strangely  out  of  place.  To  have  plotted  against  the  pope,  or 
killed  a  bishop  or  other  church  dignitary,  or  even  to  have  laid 
hands  on  one  violently,  or  to  have  forged  letters  apostolic,  were 
crimes  beyond  forgiveness.  But  so,  also,  was  the  exportation 
of  arms  and  other  prohibited  goods  to  heathen  parts,  or  the 
importing  alum  from  heathen  to  Christian  parts,  contrary  to  the 
ApostoHc  prohibition,  by  which  the  faithful  who  wanted  alum 
were  required  to  use  none  but  that  obtained  from  the  mines 
belonging  to  the  Pope,  at  Tolfa,  in  the  Pontifical  States  !^ 

The  extravagance  of  the  language  used  by  Tetzel  and  his 
subordinates,  contrasted  with  their  disgraceful  lives,  roused 
general  indignation.  They  squandered  in  drunkenness,  gambling, 
and  impurity,  much  of  the  money  got  from  the  people.  Though 
so  immoral,  they  cried  up  their  wares  in  language  incredibly 
audacious.  "  Anyone,"  they  said,  "  who  bought  an  indulgence 
might  rest  secure  that  he  was  saved.  The  souls  in  purgatory, 
as  soon  as  the  money  for  an  indulgence  tinkled  in  the  chest, 
escaped  from  the  place  of  torment  and  flew  up  to  heaven.  Even 
the  most  awful  sins  would  be  remitted  and  expiated  by  them." 
The  cross  erected  where  the  wares  were  sold,  was  declared  to  be 
as  efficacious  as  that  of  Christ  Himself.     "  Lo,"  cried  Tetzel, 

*  See  copy  of  Tetzel's  Indulgence,  in  British  Museum. 


A.D.  I520.  The  Hour  before  Dawn.  117 

**  the  heavens  are  open :  if  you  do  not  enter  now,  when  will  you  ? 
For  twelve  pence  you  may  redeem  the  soul  of  your  father  out  of 
purgatory ;  and  are  you  so  ungrateful  as  not  to  do  it  ? "  * 

Such  shameless  audacity  led,  erelong,  to  results  the  most 
momentous.  On  the  31st  October,  1517,  Luther,  then  a  uni- 
versity professor,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  by  nailing  to  the 
door  of  the  Church  of  All  Saints,  at  Wittenberg,  a  stout-hearted 
challenge  of  the  whole  doctrine  of  indulgences.  The  moral 
heroism  that  could  thus  stand  up  alone,  for  conscience'  sake, 
against  the  world,  is  one  of  the  grandest  incidents  in  history.  A 
poor  and  solitary  monk,  he  braved  a  power  which  men  held  in 
awestruck  reverence  as  the  voice  of  God  on  earth.  To  question 
its  being  so  was  to  break  the  spell  of  priestcraft  that  for  ages  had 
oppressed  mankind. 

Three  years  passed  in  vain  attempts  to  tread  out  the  spark  of 
rebellion  thus  kindled,  and  papal  anathemas  were  finally  launched 
against  one  who  had  thus  refused  to  pay  the  blind  obedience  Rome 
demanded.  But  the  whole  German  nation  was  now  intensely 
excited.  At  Erfurt,  the  students  took  the  Bull  from  the  booksellers' 
shops,  tore  it  in  pieces,  and  threw  it  into  the  river,  in  contempt. 
At  Wittenberg,  Luther  publicly  burnt  it  at  the  gates  of  the  town," 
amidst  the  shouts  of  the  people.  Till  then,  for  many  centuries, 
men  had  been  raising  the  Pope  to  a  God.  One  of  the  triumphal 
arches  at  the  entrance  of  the  monster  Alexander  VL,  as  Pope,  to 
the  old  St.  Peter's,  had  declared — "  Rome  was  great  under 
Csesar,  but  now  she  is  greatest.  Alexander  VL  reigns.  Caesar 
was  a  man.  Alexander  is  a  god."  Kings  and  emperors  had 
humbled  themselves  before  Rome.  Even  to  think  otherwise  than 
she  commanded,  had,  for  ages,  been  reputed  blasphemy.  But 
the  smoke  of  the  burning  parchment  at  the  gates  of  Wittenberg 
was  an  assertion  of  the  absolute  right  of  every  man  to  his  own 
private  judgment  in  the  sphere  of  conscience.  It  made  a  simple 
monk  the  critic  of  the  Holy  Chair,    The  "  Authority  of  the 

^  Robertson's  Charles  V.,  1.  14.  '  Dec  10,  1520. 


Ii8  The  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1428-1473. 

Church "  had  enslaved  the  human  soul :  that  authority  was 
exploded  for  evermore.  From  Wittenberg  the  news  passed  to 
England,  as  to  other  lands,  and  carried  thither,  as  through 
Germany,  the  knell  of  priestcraft. 

The  fierce  cruelty  of  the  English  bishops  in  the  reigns  of 
Henry  IV.  and  Henry  V.,  had,  for  the  time,  apparently  extirpated 
"  heresy  " — that  is,  the  crime  of  thinking  in  any  measure  for 
oneself  in  matters  of  religion.  But  like  the  bush  in  Horeb,  the 
truth  bore  the  flames  without  being  consumed.  Even  in  the 
year  of  Henry  V.'s  death,  a  priest  was  burnt  for  saying  that  to 
pray  to  a  creature  was  idolatry,  and  that  "  we  should  pray  to 
God  alone."  More  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  Reformers  are 
mentioned  by  name  as  having  been  arrested,  imprisoned,  burnt, 
or  forced  to  abjure,  in  the  diocese  of  Norwich  alone,  between 
1428  and  1 43 1.  Some  of  these  martyrs  were  charged  with  one 
opinion,  some  with  another,  but  none  with  any  not  held  now  by 
every  evangelical  Protestant.  That  men  should  not  worship 
images,  that  they  should  seek  pardon  from  God  only,  were  the 
chief  heresies  laid  against  them ;  or,  they  had  Wycliffe's  Testa- 
ment, or  used  the  Creed  and  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  English  ! 

Still,  the  hated  fire  of  God's  truth  smouldered,  and  could  not 
be  put  out.  In  1457,  it  had  even  infected  a  bishop — Pecock  of 
Chichester' — for  he  had  preached  openly,  at  Paul's  Cross,  that  a 
Christian  bishop  should,  above  all  things,  preach  the  word  of 
God,  and  that  Scripture  is  only  to  be  taken  in  its  proper  sense. 
For  this  he  was  deprived  of  his  bishopric,  and  left  to  die  in 
prison.'' 

Fourteen  years  passed,  so  far  as  we  know,  before  another 
martyr  suffered.  The  dreadful  civil  wars  left  no  leisure  for 
Lollard  hunting.  But,  in  1473,  another  victim  bore  the  fire  on 
Tower  Hill,  for  being  a  Protestant ;  and  twenty-one  years  later, 


»  1422. 

«  Pecock's  book,  "  The  Repressor,"  is  full  of  information  respecting  the 
Lollards,  whom  he  mentions  by  that  name. 


Aj).  1494— 1509-1  Tlie  Hour  before  Datvn.  119 

in  1494,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.,  under  Cardinal  Morton, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  whose  household  Sir  Thomas 
More  spent  his  youth,  and  whom  he  so  warmly  praises,  the  first 
woman  was  burnt  alive  in  England. 

The  agitation  for  Church  reform  throughout  Christendom  by 
the  apostles  of  the  New  Learning,  and  the  excitement  of  men  at 
large,  had  roused  the  Church  in  England,  as  elsewhere,  to  the 
fierce  bloodthirstiness  of  panic  and  rage.  Warham  was  now 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,^  a  man  of  amiable  private  character, 
a  friend  of  Erasmus,  but  bent  on  keeping  all  religious  thought 
strictly  within  Church  limits.  Before  1 509,  the  year  of  Henry 
VIII. 's  accession,  Buckinghamshire  alone  saw  six  men  burnt 
alive,  a  larger  number  branded  with  red  hot  irons  on  the  cheek, 
and  still  others  forced  to  carry  faggots  and  do  penance,  as 
Reformers.*  He  only  who  hears  the  cry  of  martyred  saints 
from  below  the  altar  knows  the  sufferings  of  these  sad  days. 

It  had  gradually  become  difficult  for  any  thoughtful  person  to 
escape  at  least  the  suspicion  of  heresy.  Pilgrimages  to  miracle- 
working  shrines,  relics,  worship  of  saints  and  images,  indulgences, 
and  every  other  religious  abuse,  were  alike  to  be  accepted  with- 
out question. 

Transubstantiation  had  become  the  central  doctrine  of  the 
Church.  The  immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  which 
had  been  fiercely  disputed  between  the  Franciscans  and  Domi- 
nicans, was  in  favour;  the  churches  were  crowded  with  images; 
saints'  days,  when  no  work  was  done,  had  become  a  public 
calamity  by  their  number  ;  the  people,  sunk  in  almost  heathen 
superstition,  expected  salvation  from  mere  external  observances 
and  due  payments  of  money  to  the  priest. 

The  Church  felt  and  almost  exaggerated  its  danger.  Arch- 
bishop Warham — Fitzjames,  Bishop  of  Lxjndon,  and  Longland, 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  especially  showed  their  zeal  and  alarm  by  a 
fierce  search  for  heretics,  and  severe  treatment  of  them  when 

*  1503—1532.  "  Foxe,  iv.  124. 


I20  Tke  English  Reformation.         [a.d.  1509-1517- 

brought  before  them.  Even  such  as  recanted  had  to  wear  on 
their  breast,  for  life,  the  figure  of  a  blazing  faggot,  which  shut 
every  door  against  them,  as  persons  proscribed  by  the  Church, 
and  saved  from  burning  only  by  its  mercy.  The  Lollards' 
Tower  was  filled  with  the  suspected.  Burnings  became  fre- 
quent. Foxe  saw  in  the  registries  of  Canterbury  and  London, 
between  1509  and  1517,  the  year  of  Tetzel's  indulgences,  long 
lists  of  persons  compelled  to  abjure  and  wear  the  awful  faggot- 
badge  for  life,  and  of  seven  men  and  two  women  burned  alive. 
It  stirs  one's  blood  to  hear  for  what  these  English  men  and 
English  women  had  to  pass  through  the  fire  or  endure  nameless 
indignities  and  sufferings.  They  were  charged  with  holding 
one  or  other  of  such  views  as  these  :  that  the  sacrament  of  the 
Altar  is  not  the  body  of  Christ,  but  actual  bread  ;  that  baptism 
and  confirmation  are  not  necessary  to  salvation ;  that  "  con- 
fession "  is  unscriptural ;  that  a  priest  has  no  more  power  with 
God  than  a  layman ;  or  with  repudiating  pilgrimages,  image 
worship,  prayers  to  saints,  or  some  other  Romish  belief  or 
practice.^  The  spectacle  around  them  was  indeed  enough  to 
make  men  revolt  from  the  whole  Church  system  in  force,  and 
the  news  from  abroad,  brought  to  London  or  Bristol,  then  the 
two  great  ports  of  England,  must  have  strengthened  them  in 
their  abhorrence  of  it.  One  fact  alone — only  whispered  in 
those  years  from  mouth  to  mouth,  when  a  Spaniard  was  Queen, 
and  Henry  was  in  league  with  the  Spanish  king,'^  her  nephew,  to 
defend  the  Pope  against  France — ^would  curdle  English  blood, 
and  make  many  a  man  a  Lollard.  It  was  this  :  that  in  Queen 
Catherine's  country,  in  the  fifty  years  before  151 7,  the  Inquisi- 
tion had  burned  alive  thirteen  thousand  men,  women,  and 
children,  and  had  racked,  tortured,  and  thrown  into  fearful 
dungeons  a  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  more.^ 
An  incident  which  created  an  immense  sensation  had,  more- 


*  See  their  examinations,  given  at  length  in  Foxe,  vol.  iv. 

*  In  1516,  when  Charles  was  sixteen.     »  liorente,  iv.  252. 


A.D.  1514]  The  Hour  before  Dawn.  I2l 

over,  happened  in  London  in  1514.  An  infant  of  one  Richard 
Hunne,  a  merchant  tailor,  having  died  in  the  parish  of  White- 
chapel,  where  it  had  been  put  out  to  nurse,  the  priest  of  that 
parish  and  the  priest  of  his  own  both  demanded  a  "  mortuary 
fee."  This  was  the  name  for  an  odious  claim  on  the  part  of 
the  clergy  for  the  second  best  horse  or  other  animal  belonging 
to  a  dead  person,  if  he  had  been  rich,  or  the  clothes  he  had 
last  worn  if  he  had  been  poor.  In  the  case  of  an  infant,  the 
demand  made  was  for  "  the  bearing  sheet ;"  and  as  two  were 
asked  in  the  present  instance,  one  was  justly  refused. 

The  priest,  however,  would  not  be  baulked,  and  sued  Hunne 
in  the  Legate's  Court.  But  he  was  checkmated  by  a  counter 
action  being  raised  against  him  for  appealing  to  a  foreign  court 
— an  offence  which  made  him  liable  to  the  terrible  penalties  of 
a  premunire.' 

There  was,  in  fact,  an  intense  bitterness  between  the  Lon- 
doners and  the  clergy.  The  old  Lollard  feeling  was  still  strong 
in  the  citizens,  and  it  was  deepened  by  the  clerical  greed  for 
fees  and  their  constant  harassing  suits  for  them  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical courts.  What  these  courts  had  become  we  know  on  Dean 
Colet's  authority.  He  denounces  the  Church  lawyers  as 
"  torturers  and  tormentors  of  men."  "  All  they  heed,"  says 
he,  "  is  where  they  may  punish  with  the  law's  scourges  and 
wound  with  its  knife,  so  as  to  drain  the  golden  blood  of  the 
laity.  This  they  so  eagerly  thirst  for  that  one  might  suppose 
they  held  their  title  and  profession  for  no  other  purpose  than, 
like  bloodsuckers,  to  render  men  bloodless  and  penniless  by  never- 
ending  pecuniary  fines ;  themselves,  meanwhile,  all  swollen  with 
thefts  and  robberies.  Atrocious  race  of  men  !  deadliest  plague 
to  the  Church  of  Christ !  very  devils  transformed  into  angels 
of  light !"  *  No  wonder  that  some  one  at  last  resisted  their 
extortions,  as  Hunne  did  now. 

The  derg}'  and  the  Church  lawyers,  on  their  side,  were  now 


*  See  pages  34  and  39.        '  Colet  on  the  Romans,  chap,  v.,  page  162. 


122  Tlie  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1514- 

equally  aroused.  A  long-standing  quarrel  had  come  to  a  crisis 
by  the  refusal  to  pay  a  customary  due ;  and,  above  all,  by 
bringing  a  priest  before  the  civil  courts.  The  Church  must  be 
protected.  Bishop  Fitzjames,  therefore,  at  once  laid  a  charge 
of  heresy  against  Hunne,  and  on  this  he  was  forthwith  thrown 
into  the  Lollards'  Tower — a  part  of  old  St.  Paul's  which  stood 
where  the  south-west  corner  of  the  present  cathedral,  with  the 
clock,  is  now  built.  He  was  accused  of  objecting  to  pay  tithes; 
for  having  compared  the  bishops  and  priests  to  the  Pharisees 
and  Scribes  who  condemned  Christ  to  death;  for  having  spoken 
of  the  bishops  and  clergy  as  teachers  but  not  doers  of  the  law 
of  God;  and,  lastly,  for  having  in  his  possession  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  the  Epistles,  and  the  Gospels — "  Wycliffe's  damn- 
able works." 

After  examination  before  the  bishop's  chancellor,  Hunne  was 
taken  back  to  the  Lollards'  tower,  and  soon  after  was  found 
hanged  in  his  cell.  On  this  an  inquest  was  held,  and  the 
coroner's  jury  gave  a  verdict  of  "  wilful  murder  "  against  the 
bishops'  chancellor  and  the  jailers  ;  the  poor  man  having,  appa- 
rently, been  first  killed,  and  then  hung  up,  to  lead  to  the  belief 
that  he  had  committed  suicide. 

The  clergy  were  now  thoroughly  alarmed,  and  tried  to  end  the 
matter  in  a  way  worthy  of  them.  Twelve  days  after  Hunne's 
death,  a  great  court  was  held,  of  three  bishops,  six  notaries, 
and  a  crowd  of  Church  lawyers,  abbots,  and  priests  of  note. 
As  Huime  was  dead,  proceedings  could  only  be  taken  against 
his  corpse,  which  was  duly  tried  and  sentenced  to  be  given  over 
to  the  magistrates  to  be  burned,  as  that  of  one  "  who  had  de- 
fended the  translation  of  Holy  Scripture  into  the  English  tongue, 
which  is  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  our  Mother,  Holy  Church;" 
and  this  loathsome  sentence  was  carried  out  two  days  later,  at 
Smithfieid,  "to  the  great  grief  and  disdain  of  the  people."  ^ 
Such  an  atrocious  outrage,  as  might  have  been  expected,  only 

»  f  oxe,  iv.  183  ff. 


A.O.  i5i4.]  The  Hour  before  Dawn.  123 

made  the  matter  more  serious  for  the  Church.  The  bishop  had 
seized  Hunne's  property  as  that  of  a  heretic,  but  Parliament 
ordered  it  to  be  restored  to  his  children,  and  a  Bill  was  brought 
in  to  bring  his  alleged  murderers  to  justice.  This  the  clergy 
succeeded  in  quashing,  but  the  prosecution  still  went  on,  and 
the  bishop's  chaplain  and  his  summoner  were  indicted  as  prin- 
cipals. The  old  English  principle  thus  maintained,  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  State  over  the  Church,  and  the  equality  of  all 
citizens  before  the  law,  was  a  deadly  attack  on  ecclesiastical 
pretensions,  and  threw  bishops  and  priests  alike  into  a  frenzy  of 
excitement.  A  compromise,  at  last,  was  made,  after  the  matter 
had  been  brought  before  the  king.  Caring  only  to  maintain  the 
just  dignity  of  his  courts,  and  afraid  to  proceed  too  far  against 
the  Church,  he  arranged  that  if  the  chancellor  surrendered  to 
to  take  his  trial,  and  pleaded  not  guilty,  the  attorney-general 
should  dismiss  him  without  a  trial.  But  his  escape  only  deepened 
the  hatred  against  the  Church,  and  the  whole  incident  hastened 
on  its  downfall.  "After  that  day,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,  "the 
city  of  London  was  never  well  affected  to  the  Popish  clergy," 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

CATHERINE  OF  ARRAGON. 

THE  "New  Learning,"  so  diligently  studied  at  Oxford  since 
the  closing  years  of  the  former  century,  had  resulted  in  a 
literary  revival  in  that  University,  but  had  left  religious 
matters  much  as  before,  for  Colet's  stirring  Lectures  on  the  New 
Testament  had  not  apparently  disturbed  the  deep  sleep  of  the 
past.  The  new  intellectual  life,  however,  contributed  to  a  state 
of  things  at  the  sister  University  which  first  kindled  a  new  spirit 
among  the  rising  priesthood  of  England. 

In  the  opening  years  of  the  century  the  condition  of  Cam- 
bridge was  still  what  that  at  Oxford  had  been  less  than  a  genera- 
tion before.  The  metaphysical  trifling  of  the  Schoolmen  absorbed 
the  whole  time  of  study.  Latin  was  neglected,  and  Greek  un- 
known, and  this  the  patrons  of  the  New  Learning,  who  included 
the  Primate  and  some  other  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  resolved 
to  reform.  In  1510,  Erasmus,  who  had  been  twice  before  in 
England,  and  had  gained  powerful  friends  in  the  scholars  of 
Oxford,  was  invited  by  the  king,  then  only  a  lad  of  nineteen,  to 
come  a  third  time,  and  make  England  his  home.  Himself 
well  educated,  Henry  wished  to  appear,  like  the  Florentine 
Medici,  the  patron  of  learned  men.  Accepting  the  invitation, 
Erasmus  was  erelong  appointed  Lady  Margaret  Professor  of 
Divinity  at  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  Professor  of  Greek,  and, 
in  keeping  with  his  character  of  a  reformer  of  the  Church  from 


A.D.  I5I0.1  Catherine  of  Arragon.  125 

within,  signalised  his  entrance  on  his  duties  by  the  issue  of  his 
famous  "  Praise  of  Folly,"  a  satire  of  inconceivable  keenness  on 
the  monks  and  friars,  and  even  the  priests  of  the  day.  But 
much  as  they  resented  such  an  exposure,  their  dislike  of  the 
scholar  intruded  on  the  sleepy  ignorance  of  the  university  was 
deepened  to  hatred  by  his  enthusiasm  for  the  New  Learning : 
by  his  desire  to  make  education  at  once  more  liberal  and  more 
real ;  by  his  avowed  contempt  of  the  dusty  theology  then  in 
vogue,  and  his  open  determination  to  supersede  the  Schoolmen 
as  text  books,  by  direct  appeal  to  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles. 
But  they  were  powerless  to  counteract  his  influence.  His  stay 
of  four  years  at  Cambridge  kindled  a  wide  zeal  for  the  new 
studies,  and  stirred  many  to  go  farther  than  he  himself  ventured 
in  canvassing  even  the  claims  and  doctrines  of  the  Church. 
Careful  not  to  commit  himself  by  open  statement,  he  excited 
doubts  worthy  of  one  who  remained  the  life-long  friend  of 
Colet.  Intent  on  moderate  reform,  he  started  questions  which 
others  carried  to  their  legitimate  issues,  and  thus,  to  an  extent 
he  then  little  suspected,  sowed  the  seed  of  the  Reformation. 

On  his  return  to  the  Continent,  his  influence  continued 
almost  undiminished,  and  when,  in  1 5 1 6,  the  first  edition  of  his 
Greek  Testament  was  published  at  Basle,  copies  were  eagerly 
sought  by  the  students,  to  whom  his  presence  and  words  had 
been  an  inspiration.  One  college,  indeed,  distinguished  itself 
by  forbidding  its  being  brought  within  its  walls,  but  the  authori- 
ties of  the  Church,  as  a  whole,  had  as  yet  so  little  fear  of  any 
evil  arising  from  the  circulation  of  the  New  Testament  in 
Greek,  however  they  might  frown  on  it  in  the  vernacular,  that 
Leo  Xn.  allowed  the  second  edition  to  be  dedicated  to  himself. 
Yet  it  was  a  copy  of  this  Testament  that  kindled  the  spark 
which  afterwards  spread  the  Reformation  through  the  university. 

Among  the  students,  during  the  residence  of  Erasmus,  were 
some  destined  to  become  famous  in  the  religious  struggle  now 
at  hand.  Hugh  Latimer  had  gone  thither  about  1506,  and 
stayed  till  1526,  if  not  longer.  Tyndale  came  to  it  from  Oxford, 


126  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1518. 

about  1 51 2,  and  did  not  leave  till  about  1521.  Cranmer  had 
come  to  Jesus  College,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  in  1503,  and  stayed 
there  till  1529.  Gardiner,  hereafter  his  wiliest  enemy,  was  still, 
in  1 520,  in  the  university. 

But  it  was  not  from  these  that  God  was  to  choose  the  earliest 
apostle  of  the  Reformation.  Among  the  students  was  one 
known  as  Little  Bilney,  a  man,  feeble  and  small,  but  neverthe- 
less of  high  ability  and  vigour  of  character,  and  earnestly  reU- 
gious.  Intended  for  the  law,  he  had  preferred  the  Church,  but, 
like  many  in  that  age,  had  grown  bewildered  and  oppressed, 
rather  than  satisfied,  by  its  system.  He  had  found  peace  of 
mind  unattainable  by  the  monkish  austerities  in  repute,  but  at 
last,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  I  heard  speak  of  Jesus  even  then, 
when  the  New  Testament  was  first  set  forth  by  Erasmus.  I 
bought  it,  being  allured  rather  by  the  Latin  than  by  the  word  of 
God,  for  at  that  time  I  knew  not  what  it  meant ;  and  at  the  first 
reading,  as  I  well  remember,  I  chanced  upon  this  sentence  of 
St.  Paul :  *  It  is  a  true  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  men  to  be  em- 
braced, that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of 
whom  I  am  the  chief  and  principal.'  This  one  sentence,  through 
God's  instruction  and  inward  working,  did  so  exhilarate  my 
heart,  before  wounded  with  the  guilt  of  my  sins,  and  almost  in 
despair,  that  immediately  I  felt  a  marvellous  comfort  and 
quietness,  insomuch  that  my  bruised  bones  leaped  for  joy."^ 

Himself  at  peace,  Bilney,  as  was  inevitable,  spread  among 
those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  the  new  light  he  had 
received,  till,  after  years,  he  had  influenced  a  number  of  the 
students.  His  work  was  done,  however,  not  by  public  teaching, 
but  in  private  intercourse,  for  it  was  not  in  his  nature  to  take  a 
foremost  place.  To  him,  under  God,  Protestantism  owes  the 
conversion  of  Latimer,  in  1524.  Till  then,  the  future  Reformer 
had  been  a  strenuous  supporter  of  the  Old  System,  and  had 
zealously  denounced  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.      But  Bilney, 

*  Foxe  iv.  635  i. 


A.D.  1524.]  Catherine  of  Arragon.  127 

intentionally  selecting  him  as  his  confessor,  and  insisting  on  his 
accepting  the  duty,  threw  such  a  flood  of  light  on  his  honest 
heart  as  changed  him  from  a  stubborn  Romanist  to  a  hearty 
friend  of  the  new  opinions.  Nor  was  Latimer  the  only  promi- 
nent Reformer  for  whom  we  are  indebted  to  this  gentle  and 
lowly  spirit.  It  was  to  the  leaven  of  Bilney's  teaching  that  we 
owe  well-nigh  all  that  followed,  for  he,  directly  or  indirectly, 
shaped  the  opinions  of  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation. 

While  the  new  era  was  thus  silently  drawing  nearer  at  Cam- 
bridge, there  was  no  less  certain  preparation  for  it  in  quarters 
where  the  thought  of  religious  change  was  most  abhorrent. 
God  was  using  even  the  young  king  as  an  unconscious  agent  in 
the  advancement  of  spiritual  liberty  in  England. 

The  son  of  one  who  had  done  homage  for  his  crown  to  the 
Pope;  who  had  set  out  on  his  venture  for  it  with  a  papal  blessing, 
and  regarded  himself  as  holding  it,  under  God,  by  the  Pope's 
favour,  Henry  VIII.  had  grown  up  a  zealot  for  Rome. 

Born  in  1491,  six  years  after  Bosworth  field,  he  was  a  boy  of 
eleven  when  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  Arthur,  in  1502, 
made  him  heir  apparent.  Though  only  sixteen  when  he  died, 
the  young  prince  had  been  a  married  man  for  nearly  five  months, 
and  it  was  some  time  before  it  was  certain  that  he  would  not 
have  a  posthumous  heir.  Henry  had  been  taught  to  look  to  the 
Church  as  his  future  sphere,  and  had  thus  received  a  theological 
bias  which  he  retained  through  life.  He  could  be  a  cardinal  at 
least,  even  while  a  boy,  and  possibly  pope ;  nor  was  there  any- 
thing to  make  ecclesiastical  life  a  restraint  to  a  prince,  in  those 
days  of  Alexander  VI.  Meanwhile,  he  was  not  proclaimed 
Prince  of  Wales  till  it  was  certain  that  Catherine  would  not  have 
a  child. 

The  marriage  of  Catherine,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  of  Spain,  had  been  the  subject  of  diplomacy  while  she 
was  as  yet  only  two  years  old,  and  her  future  husband  one. 
Henry  VII. 's  throne  was  then  unsteady,  for  Simnel  had  risen 
within  a  year  after  Bosworth  Field,  and  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  the 


128  The  English  Reformation.  ia.d.  usg. 

trae  heir  to  the  crown,  was  alive.  Ferdinand,  whose  whole  life 
was  a  long  intrigue,  wanted  an  alliance  that  would  paralyze 
France  on  the  north,  and  draw  it  away  from  Spain,  and  Henry 
could  do  both.  To  offer  an  Infanta  as  the  future  wife  of  his  son 
was  as  great  a  bait  to  him  as  a  similar  offer  to  Louis  Napoleon 
from  a  European  sovereign  would  have  been  within  two  years 
after  the  coup  d'Hat.  Besides,  England  had  a  great  trade  with 
Spain  for  fruit,  wine,  and  much  else,  and  the  markets  might  be 
open  to  her  by  special  treaty,  if  Ferdinand's  offer  were  accepted. 
Henry  was  to  wrest  from  France  the  duchies  of  Roussillon  and 
Cerdana,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Pyrenees,  at  his  own  cost,  for 
Ferdinand,  but  only  when  the  marriage  had  finally  taken  place  ; 
and  time  might  change  much.  Meanwhile,  England  would  be 
sure  of  peace  with  Spain;  the  treaty  of  commerce  with  her, 
which  had  been  made  for  ten  years  by  Edward  IV.,  and  was  on 
the  point  of  expiring,  would  be  renewed,  and  Henry  would  gain 
admission  into  the  family  of  kings.  Till  now  only  the  Pope  and 
the  King  of  France  had  acknowledged  him.  He  would,  more- 
over, have  an  ally  to  whom  everything  like  heresy  was,  for  poli- 
tical reasons,  odious  ;  for  both  being  alike  usurpers,  they  equally 
needed  to  support  the  Church  and  to  be  supported  by  it. 

After  infinite  haggling,  and  attempts  at  mutual  over  reaching, 
the  marriage  treaty  had  been  settled  in  1489,  when  Catherine 
was  three  years  and  four  months  old,  and  Arthur  ten  months 
younger.  On  each  side  there  was  no  intention  to  observe  the 
articles  further  than  selfish  interest  might  lead ;  but,  meanwhile, 
it  stood  written,  that  England  and  Spain  should  help  each  other 
in  any  war  against  France,  undertaken  by  either ;  that  trade 
should  be  free  between  the  two  countries,  and  that,  in  due  time, 
Catherine  should  marry  Prince  Arthur.  There  was  much,  how- 
ever, to  do  before  a  man  like  Ferdinand  would  finally  permit  the 
marriage.  The  claimant  of  the  English  throne  known  as  Perkin 
Warbeck,  was  believed  by  both  him  and  Isabella  to  be  the  true 
Duke  of  York,  son  of  Edward  IV.,  sent  abroad  in  his  infancy  by 
Richard  III.,  and,  therefore,  like  the  consummate  plotters  they 


A.D.  1501]  Catherine  of  Arragon.  129 

were,  they  first  encouraged  him  secretly,  and  then  betrayed  him, 
that  his  death  at  the  hands  of  Henry  might  clear  the  way  for 
their  daughter  being  queen.  So  Edward,  Earl  of  Warwick,  was 
direct  heir  to  the  crown,  failing  a  son  of  Edward  IV.,  and 
Ferdinand  would  not  let  Catherine  marry  Henry's  son  till  Warwick 
also  was  made  away  with.  When  the  one  had  been  hanged  and 
the  other  beheaded,  he  was  willing  that  the  marriage  should  at 
once  go  for^vard.  "  But,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "  the  King  did  not 
observe  that  he  did  bring  a  kind  of  malediction  on  the  marriage." 
"The  Lady  Catherine  herself,  a  sad  and  religious  lady,  long  after, 
when  King  Henry  VIH.'s  resolution  of  a  divorce  from  her  was 
first  made  known  to  her,  used  some  words — that  she  had  not 
offended,  but  it  was  a  judgment  of  God,  for  that  her  former 
marriage  was  made  in  blood ;  meaning  that  of  the  Earl  of 
Warwick." 

Catherine  was  married  in  London,  on  the  14th  November, 
1 50 1,  with  great  pomp  and  rejoicings,  but  on  the  2nd  of  Apnl 
following,  she  was  a  widow.  The  delicate  bridegroom  and  she 
had  never  been  separate  for  these  five  months,  but  now  she  was 
once  more  alone,  and  that  in  a  strange  land. 

The  news  reached  her  parents  at  Toledo,  on  the  loth  of  May. 
They  had  married  her  solely  for  political  motives,  and  now  their 
game  was  spoiled  by  death,  an  enemy  they  could  not  reach. 
Yet  they  were  equal  to  the  occasion  and  to  themselves.  No 
two  such  criminals,  perhaps,  lived,  even  in  that  criminal  age. 
They  had  reached  the  position  they  had  gained,  by  intrigue, 
fraud,  and  when  necessary,  murder.  Isabella  had  shut  up  her 
niece  in  a  convent,  to  get  her  inheritance,  and  Ferdinand  was 
before  long  to  poison  his  son-in-law  and  shut  up  the  widow,  his 
own  daughter  Juana,  for  life,  on  pretext  of  insanity,  to  keep  her 
from  the  kingdom  that  should  have  been  hers  at  Isabella's 
death.  Isabella  was  the  special  patron  of  the  Inquisition,  which 
was  burning  men  by  the  thousand  in  Spain,  for  '*  heresy,"  and 
Ferdinand  promoted  the  persecutions  because  he  received  the 
confiscated  estates  of  the  victims.    The  death  of  Prince  Arthur 


130  TJie  English  Reformation.  [ad.  iso*. 

had  deranged  their  plans,  but  they  did  not  waste  time  in  vain 
regrets,  for  within  four  weeks  the  messenger  who  had  brought 
the  news  of  his  death  was  back  again  in  London  with  a  new 
marriage  proposal.  He  was  to  claim  from  Henry  the  prompt 
repayment  of  the  part  of  the  dowry  already  paid.  He  was  also 
to  ask  for  the  third  part  of  Prince  Arthur's  estate,  which  had 
been  settled  on  Catherine  by  her  husband.  Henry  was  thus  to 
send  her  dowry  back  to  Spain,  but  she  was  to  keep  all  that  she 
had  received  in  England — goods,  rents,  manors,  &c.,  and  when 
sent  home  again  to  Spain,  with  all  her  treasures,  it  was  to  be 
at  Henry's  expense.  To  a  man  so  penurious,  such  demands,  it 
was  thought,  would  make  any  means  of  escape  acceptable,  and 
one  was,  therefore,  to  be  named — that  a  league  should  be  made 
between  England  and  Spain  for  mutual  aid,  to  be  cemented  by 
a  marriage  between  Catherine  and  the  young  prince  Henry, 
Arthur's  brother  !  Ferdmand  had  never  needed  Henry's  alliance 
more  :  it  was  vital  to  him,  as  a  war  was  opening,  that  Catherine 
should  be  heiress,  in  prospect,  to  the  English  throne.  Before 
they  had  sent  Henry  condolence  for  the  death  of  his  son, — their 
son-in-law, — her  father  and  mother  had  plotted  his  widow's 
marriage  with  that  son's  brother  ! 

That  Catherine  was  in  all  senses  the  widow  of  the  dead 
prince,  and  that  such  a  marriage  as  they  proposed  would  out- 
rage all  received  proprieties,  was  frankly  admitted.  But  neither 
the  interest  nor  the  good  name  of  their  daughter,  nor  even  the 
shock  lo  all  established  religious  ideas  such  a  match  must  give, 
could  sway  them,  when  policy  urged  them  forward.  Ferdinand, 
however,  soon  had  his  hands  too  full  of  his  affairs  in  France  and 
Italy,  to  take  much  part  in  this  new  intrigue,  and  it  was  therefore 
eft  to  Isabella  to  force  Catherine  on  Henry,  now  only  twelve 
years  old,  even  before  it  was  known  v/hether  she  might  not  yet 
bear  a  child  to  his  dead  brother. 

The  uncertainty  respecting  this  caused  the  king  and  his 
council  great  anxiety.  They  could  not  proclaim  him  heir 
apparent  till  it  was  lettled  one  way  or  other.     Yet  a  doubtful 


AD.  rso2.]  Catherine  of  A rragon.  131 

succession  had  led  to  the  long  civil  wars,  and  no  one  could  tell 
what  might  be  the  result  if  the  king  died  with  no  legally  acknow- 
ledged heir.     Still,  nothing  could  be  done  but  wait. 

Henry  received  the  overture  coldly,  for  it  was  in  every  way 
distasteful  to  him.  He  wanted  peace,  and  was  invited  to  engage 
in  war.  He  wished  above  all  things  a  sure  title  for  his  heirs, 
and  was  asked  to  sanction  a  marriage  which  might  invalidate 
that  of  all  his  posterity.  Besides,  there  were  religious  scruples 
not  easily  to  be  quieted.  He,  therefore,  referred  the  matter  to 
his  coimcil,  that,  at  least,  he  might  gain  time. 

In  that  council  the  two  leading  men  were  Fox,  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  and  Warham,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
and  Lord  Chancellor,  admittedly  the  first  ecclesiastical  lawyer 
in  England.  Fox  was  willing  that  the  proposals  should  be 
heard  and  examined ;  Warham  wanted  them  rejected  at  once, 
without  discussion,  as  abhorrent  to  religion,  and  an  outrage 
against  even  the  letter  of  Scripture. 

It  was,  indeed,  certain  that  the  marriage  of  a  dead  brother's 
wife  was  expressly  forbidden  in  two  texts  of  Leviticus,^  and  in  one 
of  these  such  a  union  was  expressly  branded  with  the  curse  that  it 
would  be  childless.  These  passages  were  the  basis  of  the  mar- 
riage law  in  this  particular,  as  they  still  are  in  England ;  for  it 
is  because  of  them  that  marriages  with  brothers-in-law  or  sisters- 
in-law  are  prohibited  among  us.  It  was,  moreover,  assumed  by 
men  like  Warham,  as  needing  no  second  thought,  that,  while 
the  Pope  was  free  to  cancel  any  law  of  the  Church,  it  was 
altogether  beyond  his  province  or  power,  to  annul  or  change 
the  laws  of  God.  The  English  people  reverenced  law  and  order, 
recognized  the  rules  of  human  justice,  and  honoured  the  words  of 
Scripture.  Henry  consulted  his  Chancellor,  and  Master  of  the 
Rolls,'  and  was  told  that  no  court  in  Rome  would,  for  a  moment, 
think  of  sanctioning  such  a  marriage.  With  the  plain  commands 
of  God,  he  said,  forbidding  it  as  they  did,  no  Pope,  no  court,  no 

'  Chap,  xviii.  16 ;  xx.  20.  *  Warham,  see  page  96. 


132  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1503. 

college  could  dispense,  and  this  was  the  general  feeling  of  the 
honest  English  mind.  Henry  himself  made  sure  that  he  ran  no 
risk,  even  if,  for  motives  of  policy,  he  outwardly  affected  to 
think  seriously  of  what  he  had,  in  his  heart,  determined  he  would 
never  pennit  to  be  carried  out.  To  break  the  discussion  off 
abruptly  would  be  to  bring  on  war  with  Spain,  to  quicken  the 
Yorkist  party  to  life  again,  and  put  his  own  life  in  jeopardy.  He 
would  refer  the  matter  to  Rome,  for  did  not  his  la\\7ers  tell 
him  that  the  Pope  was  certain  to  reject  the  suit,  however  strongly 
pressed  ? 

But  Henry,  with  all  his  astuteness,  was  no  match  for  the 
shameless  woman  who  was  trading  with  her  daughter  for  her 
own  ends.  Spain  was  at  war  with  both  the  Pope  and  the  French 
king,  in  Italy  :  she  had  conquered  Naples,  and  wished  to  hold  it, 
and  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  bent  on  marr}ing  Catherine  to 
the  young  prince,  though  they  knew  the  marriage  was  illegal, — 
that  the  king  of  England,  by  descents  on  the  French  coast, 
might  enable  them  to  hold  the  ItaUan  provinces  they  had  torn 
from  their  lawful  sovereign. 

A  form  had  been  drafted  out  by  Henry's  lawyers,  to  be 
submitted  to  the  Pope,  stating,  among  other  things,  that  the 
marriage  of  Catherine  with  Prince  Arthur  had  been  duly 
solemnized,  and  had  afterwards  been  consummated  as  the  canon 
law  required,  and  he  was  formally  asked  whether  a  dispensation 
was  possible  in  such  a  case. 

The  moment  a  copy  of  this  document  was  received  in  Spain, 
Ferdinand  sent  off  an  envoy  to  press  the  Pope,  Alexander  VI., 
to  issue  a  bull  authorizing  the  marriage.  Alexander  was  a 
Spaniard,  and  he  and  his  children  had  received  high  favours,  as 
bribes,  from  Ferdinand,  and  had  been  allowed  by  him  to  riot 
in  their  xmspeakable  crimes  and  violence,  till  they  had  harried 
and  trampled  under  foot  the  whole  of  Central  Italy.  Henry 
had  stood  aloof  from  such  a  Pope,  and  had  set  his  face  against 
the  sale  of  indulgences  on  pretence  of  a  holy  war,  when  he 
f oimd  that  the  money  taken  from  his  people  was  spent  on  name- 


A.D.  I503.]  Catherine  of  Arragon.  133 

less  infamies  and  crimes  in  Rome.  Yet  he  could  not  hinder 
his  case  being  laid  even  before  such  a  tribunal. 

Just  then,  Alexander  was  poisoned  by  the  sweetmeats  and 
wine  he  had  intended  for  Cardinal  Adriano,  and  Pope  Julius  II. 
was  elected ;  but  Caesar  Borgia  was  still  master  of  the  Castle  of 
St,  Angelo  in  Rome,  and  of  a  hundred  strongholds  in  the 
Papal  States,  and  might  swoop  down  on  the  Pope  at  any 
moment.  No  temptation  could  be  stronger  to  sign  a  bull 
authorizing  Catherine's  marriage,  and  thus  secure  the  support  of 
both  England  and  Spain.  Meanwhile,  Henry  had  never  signed 
the  articles  to  be  laid  before  the  Pope,  or  forwarded  a  copy  of 
them.  He  had  simply  given  notice  of  an  intended  appeal.. 
Many  months  had  passed,  and  the  Spanish  envoy  at  Rome  was 
urgent.  But  so  bad  was  the  case ;  so  illegal  the  dispensation 
asked,  that  Julius  put  the  matter  off  on  any  pretext  or  on  none. 

Ferdinand  now  tried  another  course.  A  second  petition  was 
prepared,  saying  that  Catherine  had  been  married  by  a  form  of 
words  to  Arthiu ;  that  the  marriage  had  perhaps  been  consum- 
mated, but  had  left  no  issue ;  that  another  marriage  was 
desired  by  all  parties,  and  praying  him  to  give  his  apostolic  per- 
mission. Alexander,  it  said,  had  given  a  dispensation  for 
Maria,  Catherine's  elder  sister,  to  marry  her  dead  sister's 
husband.  But  Julius  was  ill  at  ease;  what  Borgia  had  done  was 
no  precedent  for  him  :  he  would  not  seal  the  draft.  Henry, 
of  course,  at  once  repudiated  the  new  document.  There  was 
no  perhaps  in  the  original  draft,  and  its  omission  was  a  fraud 
on  purpose  to  deceive,  which  made  the  writing  worthless. 

All  this  time  Henry  had  not  signed  the  articles ;  but  now,  a 
great  battle  won  by  the  Spaniards  in  Italy,  and  successes  gained 
by  them  in  Southern  France,  made  further  delay  impossible. 
The  Pope  lay  at  the  mercy  of  Ferdinand,  who  had  only  to  be 
silent,  and  civil  war  would  break  out  in  the  very  streets  of 
Rome.  Above  all  men,  he  feared  Caesar  Borgia,  the  soul  of  all 
the  tumults,  wars,  and  crimes,  of  the  past  years,  but  Ferdinand 
tried  to  force  him  to  grant  the  bull  by  entrapping  Borgia,  and 


1 34  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1503. 

consigning  him  to  a  fortress  in  Spain,  to  be  kept  as  a  terror  to 
Julius  till  the  bull  was  signed ;  for,  though  in  prison  for  the 
time,  might  he  not  be  let  loose  if  the  signature  were  refused  ? 

But  the  Pope  would  not,  even  now,  sign  it.  He  felt  the 
unlawfulness  of  what  was  asked ;  felt  that  it  would  only  sanction 
outwardly  what  no  document  could  make  legal  or  right,  and 
might  involve  a  disputed  succession,  with  all  its  horrors.  It 
was  a  brave  struggle  for  conscience.  Isabella  knew,  however, 
how  to  overreach  him.  She  had  fallen  into  what  proved  a 
mortal  sickness,  and  sent  word  to  him  of  her  condition.  One 
thing  alone  could  cure  her,  said  her  envoy.  She  had  set  her 
heart  on  making  Catherine  Queen  of  England ;  let  her  only 
hear  that  the  bull  was  sealed,  and  she  hoped  she  would  get 
better.  She  would  not  ask  more.  The  Pope  might  keep  it 
a  secret,  and,  as  such,  it  would  have  no  power.  At  last,  the 
Pope,  in  pity  for  her,  and  perhaps  in  natural  dread  of  a  power 
which  could  do  as  it  pleased  with  him  if  he  refused,  put  the 
leaden  seal  to  the  bull,  and  after  showing  it  to  the  envoy,  with 
the  injunction  that  no  one  was  to  know  of  it  but  Isabella,  took 
the  document  and  locked  it  in  a  secret  drawer. 

The  wily  mother  had  now  gained  another  step,  and  the  last 
was  secured  before  long.  She  herself  had  been  cheated  into  a 
dubious  marriage  by  a  bull  forged  for  the  purpose  by  Ferdinand, 
and  she  was  now  as  fertile  as  he  in  crooked  expedients  to  gain 
her  ends.  Another  message  presently  reached  the  Vatican. 
The  queen  was  dying,  but  could  not  bear  to  pass  away  till  she 
had  seen  the  bull  with  her  own  eyes.  Would  the  Pope  entrust 
it  to  her  messenger  ?  No  one  should  see  it  but  herself :  she 
would  only  look  at  it  and  return  it.  She  asked  the  favour  as  a 
dying  woman.  Unable  to  refuse  such  a  request,  in  an  evil 
moment  the  envoy  got  it,  for  the  purpose  and  on  the  conditions 
that  had  been  stated. 

No  sooner,  however,  did   Isabella,   dying  though  she  was, 
receive  the  document,  than  she  announced  it  far  and  near 
issuing  a  proclamation  in  every  city,  town,  and  port  of  Spain, 


A.D.  150+.]  Catherine  of  Arragon.  135 

that  the  Pope  had  legalized  Catherine's  marriage.  Nor  was  this 
enough.  Ferdinand,  forthwith,  sent  a  copy  to  Henry,  with  the 
request  that  he  would  make  it  known  by  his  letters  patent  in 
England.  But  he  carefully  suppressed  any  mention  of  how  it 
had  been  obtained,  under  what  promises,  by  what  treachery. 
Henry  as  well  as  the  Pope,  was  overreached. 

It  was  now  1 504,  and  Catherine  was  still  in  England,  but  no 
longer  as  she  had  been,  for  she  had  fallen  deeply  in  love  with 
the  great  beautiful  boy  of  now  well-nigh  fourteen,  almost  a 
man  in  appearance  and  strength,  though  so  young.  But  the 
king  was  as  resolved  as  ever  to  prevent  the  marriage.  Com- 
mitted as  he  was,  he  had  to  sign  conditional  agreements,  but 
the  prince  would  be  at  liberty  to  refuse  to  accept  them,  as 
soon  as  he  was  fourteen — ^which  he  would  be  in  three  months. 

Before  young  Henry  had  been  one  hour  of  age  this  was 
done.*  A  meeting  of  seven  of  the  Privy  Council  was  held  at 
Richmond,  at  which  the  prince  deposed  that  he  had  been  con- 
tracted to  Catherine,  Princess  of  Wales,  during  his  minority : 
that  he  had  now  attained  full  age  :  that  he  could  judge  and  act 
for  himself :  that  he  refused  to  ratify  the  contract  that  had 
been  made  for  him,  and  denounced  it  as  null  and  void. 

Thus  things  stood  while  Henry  VH.  lived.  Catherine's 
dowry  continued  unpaid  by  Ferdinand,  because  he  believed  that 
whether  paid  or  not,  Catherine  would  not  be  allowed  to  marry 
the  Prince.  "  This  marriage,"  wrote  one  of  Catherine's  suite, 
**  weighs  too  heavily  on  the  king's  conscience ;  it  will  never 
come  to  pass." 

The  Queen,  Elizabeth  of  York,  had  died  in  1503,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-seven;  young,  beautiful,  and  good;  leaving  her  monu- 
ment behind  her  in  the  great  hospital  she  had  persuaded  her 
husband  to  found  in  the  ancient  Savoy  Palace,  in  London.  The 
magnificent  chapel  known  by  her  husband's  name  had  been 
begun  after  Arthur's  death,  but  Abbot  Islip  had  soon  to  go  on 

i  June  27,  1504. 


136  The  English  Reformation.  [a-d.  1509. 

with  it  as  her  own  tomb,  where  Henry  almost  wearied  to  be 
once  more  at  her  side.  At  last,  in  1 509,  his  time  also  had 
come,  and  young  Prince  Henry  was  king. 

Meanwhile,  Catherine  had  remained  in  England,  secluded  as 
far  as  might  be ;  for  a  repudiated  bride  could  not  be  much  seen  j 
but  still  bent  with  a  woman's  fixity  of  purpose  on  getting  Henry 
for  her  husband.  These  years  had  been  an  unceasing  intrigue  on 
her  part,  at  home  and  abroad,  to  achieve  this  one  desire  of  her 
heart.  Her  letters  and  story  show  her  to  have  been  strong- 
willed,  of  impetuous  temper,  by  no  means  disposed  to  play  the 
nun,  willing  to  finesse,  intrigue,  equivocate,  and  overreach  to 
gain  her  ends.  In  person  she  was  attractive,  for  her  figure  was 
tall  and  full,  her  eyes  a  fine  blue,  her  hair  golden  and  abundant. 

Henry,  at  his  accession,  in  1 509,  was  hardly  eighteen  years  of 
age — Catherine,  twenty-fovu*;  but  a  woman  of  that  age  is  as  old 
as  a  man  at  forty,  and  a  boy  of  eighteen  is  only  a  great  child. 
His  person  and  accomplishments,  however,  were  fit  to  have 
made  him  a  woman's  prize,  even  had  he  been  less  than  a  king. 
He  was  taller  than  any  of  his  bodyguard,  though  they  were 
chosen  for  height,  and  his  fulness  of  limb  and  breadth  of  chest 
were  in  proportion.  In  features  he  was  exceedingly  handsome. 
In  every  game  and  sport  he  easily  took  the  lead,  for  nothing 
could  tire  him,  and  his  strength  and  skill  seldom  found  an 
equal.  Nor  had  his  mind  been  neglected,  for  his  father  had 
given  him  a  first-rate  education.  A  lad  of  uncommon  abilities, 
he  was  no  less  intellectually  active  and  versatile.  Intended  at 
first  for  a  priest,  he  had  sharpened  his  wits  on  Aquinas,  and  was 
always  proud  of  his  theology.  There  was  little  that  came  before 
him  on  which  he  could  not  say  something  to  the  point. 

When  he  had  renounced  Catherine,  four  years  before,  he  had 
been  too  young  to  know  anything  of  youthful  passion ;  but  the 
very  fact  that  a  woman  like  her  had  been  contracted  to  him  had 
doubtless  dwelt  in  his  thoughts,  and  she,  in  her  occasional  visits 
to  his  father's  court  as  Ambassadress  of  Spain,  which  her  father 
had  made  her,  to  keep  her  in  England  and  bring  her  about  the 


A.D.  IS09  ]  Catherine  of  A  rragon.  1 37 

king,  had  as  certainly  used  all  the  arts  to  excite  his  regard 
which  a  woman  so  much  older  than  he  could  ply  so  well.  He 
and  she  had,  for  long  times  together,  been  allowed  to  meet  as 
youth  and  maid  who  might  be  man  and  wife,  even  during  the 
empty  negotiations  after  he  had  renounced  her ;  and  though 
this  had  been  latterly  discontinued  to  a  large  extent,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  a  boy  then  of  sixteen  fell  in  love  with  a  woman  six 
years  older,  who  was  bent  on  getting  him.  Before  the  old  king 
died  she  had  made  sure  of  her  conquest.  The  point  of  con- 
science which  had  made  his  father  resolutely  forbid  the  match 
rose  again,  indeed,  for  a  time  in  his  mind,  so  that  he  mooted 
it  to  his  lords,  but  it  was  soon  laid  to  sleep  when  he  met 
Catherine  once  more.  Meanwhile  the  Council  debated  the 
subject,  and  were  divided  respecting  it.  If  the  marriage  did 
not  take  place  there  would  be  instant  war  with  Spain ;  Richard 
de  la  Pole,  the  Yorkist,  would  be  let  loose  on  the  country; 
Henry's  sister  was  betrothed  to  Ferdinand's  grandson,  Charles, 
and  this  marriage  would  be  annulled  ;  the  Pope,  as  it  seemed, 
would  be  affronted ;  and  Henry  would  appear  to  set  his  own 
judgment  above  that  of  the  head  of  the  Church.  Isabella's 
theft  of  the  bull  had  paralyzed  even  Warham  for  the  time,  for, 
after  all,  the  document  was  genuine,  though  it  had  never  been 
legally  published  at  Rome. 

But  the  matter  had  got  beyond  argument,  and  the  two 
mainly  concerned  settled  it  for  themselves,  by  being  privately 
married  at  Greenwich  on  the  nth  of  June,  1509.  Yet  many 
people  shared  the  opinion  of  Warham,  the  foremost  canonist  of 
the  age,  that  Catherine,  as  Arthur's  widow,  could  never  be 
Henry's  lawful  wife.  At  the  wedding  everything  was  studiously 
arranged  to  make  it  be  forgotten  that  she  had  ever  been 
married.  All  documents  that  said  she  had  been  so  were  sup- 
pressed :  even  the  bull  was  not  read,  and  Catherine  herself 
appeared  in  white,  as  a  virgin  bride,  in  the  midst  of  a  cloud  of 
damsels  dressed  in  keeping,  and  of  a  cavalcade  in  which 
nothing  was  omitted  that  could  foster  the  illusion. 


1 38  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1510. 

But  though  the  young  queen  had  won  her  husband's  heart, 
even  the  first  year  of  her  marriage  had  its  shadows.  Two 
parties  showed  themselves  at  Court,  one  for,  the  other  against 
the  marriage.  The  only  two  bishops  who  upheld  it  were  Fox 
of  Winchester,  and  Fisher  of  Rochester,  who  held — like  modem 
Ultramontanes — that  a  Pope  could  do  no  wrong,  and  that  it  was 
sinful  to  criticise  any  Papal  act.  Of  Warham  she  felt  an 
instinctive  fear,  for  she  knew  his  opinion  and  the  weight  it 
carried. 

Nor  could  she  tolerate  the  coquetting  with  Church  reform, 
which  characterized  those  whom  Warham  favoured.  Herself  a 
sister  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis ;  the  daughter  of  a  Franciscan 
mother  who  had  set  up  the  Inquisition  in  Spain,  and  had  made 
Torquemada  her  bosom  friend ;  of  a  father  who  bore  the 
name  of  "  The  Catholic  King,"  and,  like  his  wife  and  her  con- 
fessors, was  the  deadly  enemy  of  printing  and  the  New  Learning ; 
— the  Holy  War  against  the  Infidel  in  Granada,  the  great  remem- 
brance of  her  childhood ; — with  two  of  her  bastard  sisters  in 
convents,  and  a  bastard  brother  an  archbishop,  she  was  inevit- 
ably a  Romanist  of  the  most  bigoted  type.  She  hated  France 
because  Louis,  its  king,  led  on  by  Cardinal  Amboise,  the  great 
opponent  of  her  marriage  among  the  Cardinals,  was  intent  on  a 
grand  reform  of  the  Church ;  and  she  hated  Warham  because 
he  sympathized  with  France  and  its  Church  policy,  as  well  as 
for  private  reasons. 

Her  whole  future  turned  on  her  bearing  a  son.  If  she  did 
so,  it  would  crush  all  dispute  as  to  the  marriage,  by  silencing 
men's  tongues  as  to  the  curse  on  it  if  it  were  really  illegal. 
Ferdinand,  also,  could  then  count  on  getting  the  aid  from 
Henry,  for  which  the  whole  marriage  intrigue  had  been  con- 
cocted. He  would  be  able,  by  English  help,  to  make  Navarre 
his  own,  and  to  found  a  Spanish  kingdom  in  Italy.  But,  on  the 
last  day  of  January,  15 10,  Catherine  bore  a  female  child,  and  it 
was  dead.  Was  the  marriage  unholy  after  all?  She  would 
conceal  her  misfortune,  and  trust  to  the  future.     But  Henry's 


A.D.  isii]  Catherine  of  A rragon.  1 39 

scruples  had  received  a  rough  resurrection.  The  murmurs  at 
the  Council  deepened,  and  the  Spanish  envoy  heard  to  his  dis- 
may that  many  of  its  members  made  no  secret  of  their  opinion, 
that  Henry  had  done  wrong  in  marrying  his  brother's  wife. 

At  last,  on  Tuesday,  New  Year's  morning,  151 1,  a  prince 
was  bom,  to  the  infinite  delight  of  Henry  and  the  nation.  The 
opponents  of  the  marriage  were  at  last  put  to  shame.  Bonfires 
and  rejoicings  were  universal.  Henry  rode  on  pilgrimage  to  our 
Lady  of  Walsingham,  the  great  centre  of  English  pilgrimages,* 
alighting  from  his  horse  at  a  distance,  and  walking  barefoot  to 
the  shrine,  to  beseech  the  Virgin  to  protect  the  young  Prince  of 
Wales.  But  on  the  22nd  of  February  the  child  died.  Cathe- 
line's  troubles  almost  overwhelmed  her,  for  she  knew  that  men 
were  everywhere  whispering,  that  if  a  man  took  his  brother's 
wife  he  would  not  leave  a  child  behind  him. 

To  make  things  worse  for  her,  Ferdinand,  after  plotting  ever 
since  Henry's  accession  to  get  him  to  go  to  war,  ostensibly  for 
the  protection  of  Pope  Julius,  who  was  at  war  with  the  French 
in  Italy,  but  really  for  his  own  ends,  induced  him,  at  last,  to 
league  with  Venice,  the  Pope,  and  Spain,  nominally  to  assist 
Holy  Church,  but  really  for  his  own  advantage.  Zeal  for  the 
papacy  doubtless  actuated  Henry  in  part,  but  the  dread  of 
France  getting  too  strong  for  his  own  safety  was  also  without 
question  a  strong  motive.  Ten  thousand  men  were  sent  to 
San  Sebastian  to  attack  France  from  that  quarter,  but  Ferdi- 
nand having  forged  a  papal  bull,  pretending  that  Navarre  had 
offended  the  Pope  and  lay  under  his  interdict,  tried  to  get 
them  to  attack  it  instead.  He  had  already  kept  the  army  with- 
)ut  tents,  hospitals,  or  stores,  on  the  bare  flats,  for  many  weeks, 
till  they  were  struck  by  fever  and  dysentery,  and  saw,  at  length, 
that  he  had  been  basely  deceiving  them.  His  troops,  which 
were  to  have  attacked  France  for  the  Pope,  were  ravaging  Na- 
varre, with  which  England  had  no  quarrel,  for  himself.     The 

»  See  page  75. 


140  The  English  Reformation,  [ad.  isu- 

English  commanders,  furious  at  treachery  so  base,  returned  at 
once  with  their  force  to  England.  Henry  was  fierce  at  Ferdi- 
nand, but  he  stood  faithful  to  the  Pope.  He  began  to  feel, 
indeed,  that,  from  his  fatal  marriage  to  this  last  step,  he  had 
been  tricked  and  betrayed  by  his  father-in-law,  but  Holy 
Church  was  honestly  dear  to  him,  and  he  would  keep  his 
pledged  word  to  help  her,  however  others  acted.  Catherine, 
meanwhile,  fanned  the  flame,  to  carry  out  her  father's  wishes, 
and  the  peace  party  was  overborne.  But,  while  Henry  was 
preparing  to  land  with  an  army  in  France,  Ferdinand,  having 
secured  Navarre,  had  made  a  separate  peace  with  the  French 
king,  leaving  his  son-in-law,  when  he  came,  to  fight  alone.  It 
was  another  instance  of  the  treachery  which  was  gradually 
turning  Henry's  heart  against  everything  Spanish. 

But  a  fresh  blow  was  coming.  While  her  husband  was  still 
in  France  Catherine  bore  another  son,  who  lived  only  a  few 
days.  The  terror  about  her  marriage  had  sunk  into  her  soul. 
The  birth  was  studiously  concealed.  Not  even  the  ladies  in 
attendance  were  allowed  to  know  of  it,  lest  this  child  also  should 
die,  and  tongues  get  more  food  for  evil  whispers. 

A  fresh  treachery  of  her  father  added  to  the  misfortunes  of 
the  unhappy  queen.  Ferdinand,  at  Henry's  request,  had  made  a 
new  treaty  with  him,  promising  co-operation  in  the  war  now 
going  on  against  France,  and  to  marry  his  grandson  Charles  to 
Henry's  sister,  Mary.  To  Henry's  astonishment,  however,  he 
soon  after  learned  that  Charles  had  been  promised  to  an  infant 
daughter  of  the  French  King,  to  the  rejection  of  Mary,  and  that 
Ferdinand  had  also  undertaken  to  help  that  monarch  to  drive 
the  EngUsh  out  of  France.  Meanwhile,  this  exemplary  father- 
in-law  had  actually  induced  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor  to  desert 
Henry,  who  was  thus  left  alone,  with  a  war  with  France  and 
Scotland  on  his  hands,  begun  for  Ferdinand's  ends  and  by  his 
intrigues. 

All  that  followed  towards  Catherine  could  not  but  be  affected 
by  such  treatment  from  her  father.      Henry's  whole  nature 


A.D.  isuJ  Catherine  of  Arragon,  141 

seemed  changed  for  the  worse  by  the  amazing  perfidy  of  which 
he  had  so  often  been  the  victim.  It  opened  his  eyes  to  much 
in  the  past ;  showed  him  how  he  had  been  duped  to  marry,  for 
the  selfish  ends  of  his  father-in-law ;  and  waked  afresh  all  the 
suspicions  as  to  the  legality  of  the  union.  But  he  still  bore  him- 
self loyally  to  his  wife.  It  was  only  1514,  yet,  already,  the 
party  in  the  ascendant  at  court  spoke  openly  of  the  queen  as  a 
concubine  rather  than  a  wife.  The  alliance  with  Spain  was 
presently  broken  off,  and  France,  by  Wolsey's  instigation,  chosen 
instead;  Mary,  Henry's  sister,  being  married  to  the  French  king 
— a  girl  of  nineteen  to  a  broken,  dying  man,  of  fifty-three.  The 
first  grand  act  in  Henry's  reign  had  ended,  and,  henceforth,  the 
baser  features  of  his  character  were  slowly  to  be  developed. 
Yet  it  was  long  years  before  they  quite  gained  the  mastery. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BEGINNING  OF  THE  QUARREL  WITH  ROME. 

NEVER  had  Pope  a  more  devoted  and  faithful  supporter 
than  Henry  VIII.  He  had  entered  into  the  war  with 
France  in  part  to  preserve  the  balance  of  power  in  Western 
Europe,  threatened  for  the  moment  by  the  French  king,  between 
whom  and  Spain,  England  in  those  years  sought  to  bear  herself 
so  as  to  keep  either  from  unduly  preponderating.  But  he  had 
been  specially  zealous  in  this  case  from  its  involving  his  defend- 
ing the  Pope,  whom  France  threatened,  and  he  had  stood  faith- 
ful to  him  when  all  others  deserted  his  cause.  Yet  from  his 
own  wide  culture  he  was  friendly  to  the  New  Learning,  and  the 
whole  spirit  of  the  age  led  him  to  favour  the  scheme  of  Warham, 
which  was  afterwards  that  of  Wolsey  also,  to  reform  the 
Church  from  within.  Of  any  doctrinal  changes  he  never 
dreamed,  even  to  the  end.  • 

Little,  however,  could  be  done  as  things  were.  The  clergy 
were  so  little  disposed  to  abate  any  of  their  claims,  or  reform 
even  the  most  clamant  abuses,  that  a  law  passed  in  1513 
refusing  the  benefit  of  clergy  to  murderers  and  robbers,  who 
though  they  could  read,  were  not  in  holy  orders,  was  denounced 
by  the  priesthood,  as  "  contrary  to  the  law  of  God  and  the 
liberties  of  Holy  Church,"  and  as  entailing  spiritual  censures 
on  all  who  assented  to  it.  The  gross  ignorance  of  the 
laity  had  made  reading  so  exclusively  an  accomplishment  of 


A.D.  1SI5-]         Beghining  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.        143 

the  clergy  that  anyone  who  could  boast  of  it  had  come  to  be 
reckoned  an  ecclesiastic,  and  they  would  not  give  up  the  fiction. 
Their  blind  unreasoning  conservatism  would  make  no  conces- 
sion from  things  as  they  were,  though  Hunne's  case  was  presently 
to  show  them  how  hollow  the  ground  was  beneath  them,  and 
though  the  Act  was  to  be  in  force  only  till  the  next  meeting  of 
Parliament.  Many  murderers  and  felons  who  claimed  clerical 
privileges  were  nevertheless  brought  before  the  king's  courts, 
where  they  could  be  duly  punished,  instead  of  before  the  courts 
of  the  bishops,  where  they  were  allowed  to  escape  with  a  nominal 
penalty. 

On  the  first  of  January,  15 15,  Louis  of  France  died,  three 
months  after  his  marriage  with  the  Princess  Mary,  who  forth- 
with married  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk,  her  old  love. 
The  new  king,  Francis  L,  was  devoted  equally  to  his  pleasures 
and  to  military  glory,  which  erelong  drew  him  into  the  old 
struggle  with  Ferdinand  for  rule  in  Italy,  and  involved  Henry  in 
a  fresh  war  with  France,  as  the  steadfast  friend  of  the  Papacy, 
and  to  preserve  the  "  balance  of  power."  Wolsey,  now  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  and  in  the  full  tide  of  his  glory  at  court,  had 
already  set  his  heart  on  the  tiara,  if  anything  happened ;  but 
Leo  X.  was  so  young  a  man  that  his  hopes  were  only  in  the  dis- 
tant future.  As  a  Churchman  he  was,  of  course,  loyal  to  Rome ; 
and  war  with  France,  partly  on  its  account,  at  once  increased 
his  own  power  as  Viceroy  in  Henry's  absence,  and  flattered  the 
king's  passion  for  glory  and  his  zeal  for  the  Pope.  Indeed, 
whether  Henry  was  abroad  or  at  home,  all  the  business  of  the 
State  now  passed  through  the  minister's  hands.  To  please  the 
king  and  propitiate  himself,  a  Cardinal's  hat  was  presently  sent 
him,  and  he  was  appointed  legate  at  Henry's  request,  thus  taking 
rank  above  even  Warham,  the  primate.  He  knew  the  dignity  was 
illegal,  but  what  likelihood  was  there  of  his  being  brought  to 
account  for  an  honour  procured  for  him  by  the  Crown  itself  ? 
Even  Warham,  mortified  at  this  last  promotion  of  the  favourite, 
and  unable  to  endure  the  slights  received  from  him,  erelong  put 


144  ^'^  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1515- 

another  step  upwards  in  his  reach,  by  resigning  the  woolsack, 
to  which  Wolsey  was  at  once  raised.  It  is  only  just,  however, 
to  say  that  he  discharged  its  duties  with  such  marked  ability  and 
uprightness,  that  even  Sir  Thomas  More  spoke  of  him  as  a 
great  chancellor.  He  was,  thus,  head  of  both  Church  and 
State,  and  virtually  held  all  the  power  of  the  realm,  guiding  its 
policy  whether  for  war  or  for  peace.^ 

Parliament  met  in  November,  and  erelong  the  bishops  were 
in  furious  debate  to  repeal  the  Act  of  15 13,  giving  up  clerical 
murderers  to  the  civil  power.  Yet  the  people  were  at  the 
instant  so  restive  in  regard  to  the  Church  that  Wolsey  had 
written  to  the  Pope  protesting  against  his  taking  the  same  dues 
twice  in  a  year,  and  the  collectors  of  Peter's  pence  reported  that 
they  could  not  gather  it.^  Books  were  published  by  ecclesiastics 
demanding  that  the  secular  judge  should  have  no  jurisdiction 
whatever  over  even  nominally  ecclesiastical  persons,  and  fierce 
replies  and  counter-replies  were  bandied  about.  The  Church 
had  striven  from  the  Conqueror's  day  for  immunity  from  any 
jiu-isdiction  but  its  own,  and  had  as  steadfastly  been  refused  it. 
England  would  not  give  it  a  place  outside  the  statute  book.  A 
civil  court  had  always  claimed,  and  often  exercised  the  right  to 
reverse  the  sentence  of  a  bishop's  court,  and  now  Henry  let  it 
be  felt  that,  however  Edward  IV.,  or  Richard  III.,  or  his  father, 
had  given  way  for  the  time,  to  gain  clerical  support  for  their 
doubtful  titles,  he  took  the  old  stand  of  English  kings  once 
more.  Before  all  the  judges,  the  chief  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
lawyers,  and  members  of  both  Houses,  he  declared  it  to  be  his 
resolution  to  maintain  the  rights  of  his  crown  and  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  his  courts.  His  despotic  humours  would  not  even  brook 
the  legitimate  restraints  of  the  Constitution,  for  this  Parlia- 
ment was  the  last  till  1523.  Its  independence,  in  refusing  to 
be  bullied  into  granting  money  at  Wolsey's   dictation,  made 


'  Giustiniani's  Despatches,  i.   139. 

*  Brewer  Cal.  of  State  Papers,  L  5465  ;  ii.   115. 


A.D.  1516-1519]  Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome,         145 

both  king  and  favourite  resolve  to  dispense  with  it  for  the 
future. 

In  July,  1 516,  seven  years  after  his  marriage,  Henry  had  the 
delight  of  seeing  the  first  child  of  his  union  that  lived,  but  it  was  a 
girl — Mary — afterwards  of  ill-omened  name.  Yet  the  kindlier 
part  of  his  nature  welled  up  at  the  sight  of  the  infant,  and,  if  he 
could  not  have  a  son,  he  at  least  took  every  care  to  establish  his 
succession  in  the  person  of  the  baby  daughter.  Meanwhile 
England,  as  usual,  held  the  balance  between  France  and  Spain. 
Ferdinand  had  died  in  the  summer,  and  his  grandson  Charles, 
a  lad  of  sixteen,  succeeded — for  his  mother,  Juana,  who  ought 
to  have  reigned  over  Castile,  was  kept  shut  up  by  her  son,  as 
she  had  been  by  her  father,  on  pretence  that  she  was  a  lunatic 
The  change  affected  Wolsey  only  for  good.  He  got  pensions 
from  both  sides ;  was  made  general  collector  in  England  for 
the  Pope,  and  administrator  of  all  the  sees  held  by  foreign 
absentee  bishops. 

All  England  was  now  agitated  more  than  ever  by  the  ques- 
tion of  the  succession.  There  never  had  been  a  queen  of 
England,  and  the  infant  princess  might  find  her  title  chal- 
lenged, with  all  the  disastrous  convulsions  of  the  old  civil  wars. 
In  November,  1518,  another  daughter  was  bom,  but  it  died, 
and  its  mother,  worn  out  by  so  much  physical  and  mental 
trouble,  had  shrunk,  prematurely,  into  a  sickly,  austere,  old 
woman.  Henry  was  only  twenty-seven,  but  she  was  far  older 
than  her  age — thirty-three.  Hitherto  he  had  been  nobly  faith- 
ful to  her ;  but  the  shadow  of  the  curse  was  deepening,  and  he 
himself  was  no  longer  what  he  had  been.  Henceforth  he  left 
her,  as  his  wife,  and  took  a  mistress,  who  erelong,  to  his  great 
joy,  bore  him  a  son — hailed  from  his  birth  as  the  Duke  of 
Richmond.  In  151 9  the  young  King  Charles — Catherine's 
nephew — though  only  as  old  as  the  century,  was  chosen 
Emperor  of  Germany,  to  the  mortification  of  Francis,  who 
hoped  to  have  himself  been  elected ;  but  the  only  effect  on 
Henry's  position,  for  the  time,  was  his  being  courted,  to  the 


146  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1521. 

delight  of  the  nation,  by  both.     Receiving  and  paying  royal 
visits  filled  up  great  part  of  1520. 

Henry's  first  act  of  legal  murder,  on  political  grounds,  marked 
the  opening  of  1521.  Edward  Stafford,  Duke  of  Buckingham,. 
was  the  fifth  in  descent  from  Anne  Plantagenet,  grand-daughter 
of  Edward  III.  His  father  had  been  beheaded  by  Richard  III. ; 
his  grandfather,  great  grandfather,  and  great  great  grandfather 
had  fallen  in  the  civil  wars  of  their  times,  and  he  himself  was 
doomed  to  no  milder  fate.  It  was  reported  to  the  king  that  he 
had  said  that  should  Catherine  have  no  son  he  would  succeed 
to  the  throne,  but  there  is  no  proof  beyond  vague  assertion  by 
a  spy  that  he  actually  expressed  himself  so.  Henry,  in  truth, 
was  jealous  of  one  so  near  the  throne,  and  that  the  more 
because  only  a  daughter  stood  between  him  and  it.  A  jury  of 
peers  was  found  subservient  enough  to  carry  out  his  purpose 
by  condemning  him  to  death,  and  he  was  beheaded  on  the  17th 
May  ;  the  people  venting  their  indignation  on  Wolsey,  as  the 
supposed  instigator  of  the  crime,  by  loud  cries  of  "The 
butcher's  son!"  But  Henry's  own  nature  was  ferocious  as  that 
of  the  tiger,  though,  like  it,  he  had  feline  softness  of  bearing 
when  he  chose.  The  words  of  More  were  already  coming  true, 
under  the  growing  despotism  which  was  striking  terror  into  all 
men's  hearts,  that  "  there  will  never  be  wanting  some  pretence 
to  decide  in  the  King's  favour ;  as,  that  equity  is  on  his  side,  or 
the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  or  some  forced  interpretation  of  it ; 
or,  if  none  of  these,  that  the  Royal  prerogative  ought,  with  con- 
scientious judges,  to  outweigh  all  other  considerations."  Nor 
had  the  true  character  of  his  master  escaped  the  sharp  eyes  of 
Wolsey.  "  He  is  a  prince,"  said  he,  "  of  a  most  royal  courage ; 
sooner  than  miss  any  part  of  his  will  he  will  endanger  one-half 
of  his  kingdom,  and  1  do  assure  you  I  have  often  kneeled  to 
him,  sometimes  for  three  hours  together,  to  persuade  him  from 
his  appetite,  and  could  not  prevail."* 

*  Cavendish,  139. 


AD.  I52I  ]         Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         147 

The  publication  of  Luther's  book  against  the  Pope  and  his 
excommunication  at  the  Diet  of  Worms '  created  a  great  sensa- 
tion in  England,  and  proved  the  cause  of  the  final  estrangement 
of  the  New  Learning,  in  the  persons  of  its  first  promoters, 
from  the  Reformation  movement  in  Germany.  Colet  and 
Grocyn,  who  had  been  favourite  preachers  at  Court,  had  just 
died  ( 1 5 1 9) ;  Parr  was  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  State ;  Linacre 
was  Henry's  physician;*  More  a  privy  councillor;  Tunstall 
Master  of  the  Rolls;  and  Warham  survived,  as  primate,  till 
1532.  Hitherto  they  had  looked  with  a  friendly  eye  on  the 
Lutheran  agitation,  expecting  a  reformation  of  the  Church 
from  within,  as  its  result.  But  Luther's  open  repudiation  of 
the  Pope  and  his  intemperate  language  showed  that  they  had 
to  expect  an  ecclesiastical  revolution,  and  not  a  mere  quiet 
trimming  of  the  vessel  of  the  Church.  Henceforth  the  conser- 
vatism of  the  New  Learning  divorced  it  from  the  great 
movement  begun  in  Germany,  and  destined  to  spread  erelong 
to  England.  More  wrote  a  reply  to  Luther,  but  showed  his 
hostility  to  the  turn  affairs  had  taken  by  stooping  to  as  unworthy 
coarseness  as  Luther  himself,  without  the  excuse  of  being  a 
miner's  son.  Henry  also  rushed  into  the  conflict,  and  pub- 
lished a  fierce  attack  on  the  Reformer,  in  a  book  called  "  The 
Assertion  of  the  Seven  Sacraments."  The  first  generation  of 
the  New  Learning  was  passing  away,  and  younger  and  less 
conservative  men,  with  whom  Henry  had  nothing  in  common, 
were  taking  their  place. 

Such  a  champion  as  the  young  king  had  rarely  come  forward 
to  uphold  the  Papacy.  It  did  not  content  him  to  defend  its 
religious  side  :  he  was  so  unrestricted  in  his  homage  to  its 
political  claims  that  even  Sir  Thomas  More  ventured  to  remon- 
strate. But  he  would  not  modify  a  Hne,  alleging  that  there  was 
a  secret  reason  against  his  doing  so.  The  legitimacy  of  his 
marriage  with  Catherine  could  only  be  maintained  by  claiming 

*  April  17,  1521.  *  Died  1524. 


148  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1521. 

the  divine  power  of  the  Pope  to  alter  the  teaching  of  Scripture. 
Marriage  with  a  brother's  wife  was  expressly  forbidden.  To 
have  limited  the  Papal  power  to  that  of  dispensing  from 
Church  laws  would  not  suffice  :  its  right  to  dispense  with  the 
divine  law  must  also  be  defended.  So  deeply  was  the  matter  of 
his  marriage  in  Henry's  thoughts,  though  divorce  was  not  as 
yet  mentioned.  His  reasoning  seems  to  have  led  even  More  to 
reflect  on  the  whole  subject  more  deeply  than  before,  for,  from 
this  time,  he  also  seems  to  have  held  this  divine  power  to 
belong  to  the  Pope ;  and  we  know  that  he  did  so  to  the  end, 
with  such  fervour,  that  at  last  he  died  rather  than  give  it  up. 
Meanwhile,  he  was  not  so  extreme,  and  wondered  at  the  king's 
language.  Henry  was  doubtless  sincere,  for  he  had  inherited 
from  his  father  the  loftiest  conceptions  of  the  power  of  Rome, 
and  like  him  he  even  held  that  he  had  received  from  it  his 
imperial  "  crown  and  sceptre,"  and  fancied  that  he  "  could  not 
do  it  too  much  honour" — notions  that  More  honestly  told  him 
he  had  not  heard  of  before. 1 

But  in  his  cooler  moments,  as  we  have  seen,  Henry  had  acted 
more  like  a  king,  and  it  \\'as  only  by  a  false  logic,  and  an  obli- 
vion of  facts,  he  flattered  Rome  as  he  now  did,  in  contradiction 
to  his  instincts,  and  to  the  traditional  policy  of  the  nation. 
*'  Both  Crown  and  Church  of  England,"  says  Cardinal  Manning,^ 
"  with  a  steady  opposition,  resisted  the  entrance  and  encroach- 
ment of  the  secularized  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  Pope  in 
England."  A  hundred  times  had  it  been  tried  to  get  the  kings 
of  England  to  do  homage  to  Rome,  but  none  of  them  had  done 
it  except  John,  who  was  execrated  for  doing  it.  "  I  will  not  do 
it,"  said  Henry  11. ,  to  a  legate.  "  Neither  do  we,  nor  will  we, 
nor  can  we,  nor  ought  we,  to  permit  our  lord  the  king  to  do  so," 
said  the  Parliament  of  Edward  I.  The  act  of  John  was  declared 
by  the  peers  to  have  been  done  without  consent  of  the  estates, 


*  Wordsworth's  Eccl.  Biog.  ii.  169. 

'  Manning  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church,  361, 


A  J).  IS2I]         Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         149 

and  contrary  to  his  oath.  "  If  the  Pope  appeals  to  force,"  said  the 
Commons,  "  we  will  gainstand  him  to  the  utmost  of  our  power." 
Longshanks  himself  had  already  shewn  his  stout  English  heart 
in  brave  words.  "  If  both  the  Emperor,"  said  he,  "  and  the 
King  of  France  should  take  the  Pope's  part,  I  am  ready  to  give 
battle  to  them  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  my  crown."  So 
Henry  was  to  speak  thirteen  years  later,  but  as  yet  he  was 
more  than  ever  at  the  Pope's  devotion,  in  return  for  the  soft 
flattery  with  which  Leo  greeted  him  as  "  Defender  of  the 
Faith,"  on  account  of  his  book.  "  His  majesty  is  most  obsequious 
towards  the  Pope,"  wrote  Guistiniani  in  151 5.  "Words  cannot 
exaggerate  their  mutual  good-will."  Ferdinand's  cold  cynicism 
spoke  of  him  as  "  a  pious  fool." 

In  December,  1521,  Pope  Leo  X.  suddenly  died,  at  the  age 
of  forty-six,  and  Wolsey  fondly  hoped  to  get  his  place,  which 
Charles  V.  had  promised  to  secure  him.  Henry's  jealousy  of 
France,  his  desire  for  glory,  and  his  zeal  for  the  Pope,  had 
enabled  his  favourite  to  continue  the  Spanish  League,  in  spite  of 
all  that  had  been  suffered  from  it — Charles  having  won  him  over 
by  the  bait  of  the  tiara.  But  the  Emperor,  as  cold  and  false  as 
his  father,  had  only  played  with  him,  and  Adrian  VI.  was  chosen 
in  his  stead.  The  game, -however,  was  not  yet  over.  Charles, 
ever  adroit,  held  out  to  Wolsey  the  prospect  of  the  next  vacancy, 
which  could  not  be  far  distant,  and  war  with  France  was  again 
declared;  Charles,  a  youth  of  twenty-one,  binding  himself,  under 
pain  of  excommunication,  to  marry  the  infant  Mary,  now  six 
years  old,  as  a  pledge  of  friendship  towards  Henry  1 

Lutheranism  was,  meanwhile,  making  progress.  In  the  in- 
terval since  the  burning  of  the  Pope's  Bull,  the  press  had  been 
active,  and  many  books,  not  a  few  in  English,  but  printed  abroad, 
had  been  imported  stealthily  into  England.  In  March,  1521, 
Warham  the  Primate,  and  Longland  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  pressed 
Wolsey  to  proceed  against  the  growing  heresy.  The  priests,  they 
said,  were  becoming  tainted ;  and  tracts  by  Reformers  began  to 
fly  about.      Wolsey,  in  answer,  published  the  Pope's  Bull,  con- 


1 50  The  English  Reformation.         [a-d.  1521-1523- 

demning  Luther's  doctrines,  and  peremptorily  commanded  all  who 
had  Lutheran  books  to  give  tiiem  up ;  but  he  was  no  friend  of  per- 
secution, and  preferred  burning  the  books  rather  than  the  bodies 
of  the  Reformers.  He  was,  in  fact,  filled  with  grand  schemes 
of  his  own  to  reform  the  Church  from  within,  and  did  not  want 
to  create  prejudice  that  might  make  them  miscarry.  A  great 
college,  which  would  teach  the  New  Learning,  was  to  be  endowed 
at  Oxford,  from  the  revenues  of  sequestrated  monasteries ; 
schools  were  to  be  founded  over  the  land,  and  new  bishoprics, 
endowed  from  the  revenues  of  monasteries,  were  to  restore  the 
discipline  of  the  clergy  at  large.  He  hoped,  indeed,  to  be  Pope, 
and  then  he  would  reform  the  Church  universal,  and  after  that, 
make  a  crusade  against  the  Turk,  and  drive  him  from  Christen- 
dom. But  the  true  worth  of  his  dreams  may  be  measured  by 
his  own  life.  The  grossest  of  pluralists,  he  would  bring  back 
apostolic  simplicity ;  the  father  of  a  family,  though  a  priest, 
he  would  restore  priestly  morals ;  the  most  unscrupulous  of 
politicians,  he  would  inaugurate  the  reign  of  truth  ;  the  tempter 
of  the  king  to  every  sin,  for  his  own  selfish  ends,  he  would  call 
men  to  imitate  Christ.  He  had  given  his  own  bastard  son  two 
rectories,  six  prebendary  stalls,  two  archdeaconries,  a  chancellor- 
ship, a  provostship,  and  a  deanery,  -and  was  he  not  even  now 
trying  to  get  him  made  Bishop  of  Durham,  the  richest  see  in 
England  ?  He  forgot,  moreover,  that  the  Church,  in  its  existing 
state,  was  morally  dead,  and  that  no  galvanism  could  quicken  it 
into  new  life. 

The  immense  treasures  left  by  Henry  VH.  had  long  been 
spent  in  war,  in  selfish  indulgence,  idle  display,  and  gambling. 
The  subsidy  granted  in  15 13  was  also  gone,  and  money  was 
urgently  needed  by  Henry.  Wolsey  had  steadily  trained  him  to 
play  the  despot,  dispensing  with  Parliaments,  and  ruling  by 
arbitrary  personal  authority.  A  true  patriot  would  have  sought 
to  raise  the  Commons  and  protect  their  rights  against  a  throne 
already  too  powerful  by  the  destruction  of  the  old  nobility  in  the 
civil  wars.    But  Henry  was  to  be  autocrat  in  the  State,  and  him- 


A.U.  I523-I52S]  Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rotne.         1 5 1 

self  in  the  Church ;  or,  rather,  himself  in  both  ;  for  though  the 
king  gave  the  final  word  in  everything,  the  glory  and  odium  of 
executing  his  will  were  left  to  Wolsey.  Forced  loans  were  de- 
manded from  London  and  other  cities  and  towns,  and  a  survey 
taken  of  all  England  for  arbitrary  taxation,  till  a  revolution  was 
threatened,  which  must  have  been  fatal  to  a  throne  unsupported 
by  any  armed  force,  as  was  the  case  with  Henry's.  The  old 
English  spirit  would  not  submit  to  such  measures,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  eight  years,  Parliament  had  to  be  summoned,  but 
only  to  get  money.  Fierce  wrangling  followed,  and  Wolsey 
having  come  to  the  House  to  dragoon  it  into  submission,  was 
required  to  leave  before  anything  was  done.  A  subsidy  was 
voted  at  last,  but  Parliament  was  prorogued,  to  meet  no  more  for 
the  next  seven  years,  after  Wolsey  had  fallen.  The  Cardinal 
had  made  himself  "  infinitely  hated,'"  for  he  had  brought  the 
King  into  collision  with  the  people,  and  his  furious  threats,  at 
opposition  to  the  royal  wishes,  had  shown  how  hurtful  his  in- 
fluence had  been. 

In  September,  1523,  Pope  Adrian  died,  and  Wolsey  was  once 
more  deceived  by  Charles  in  his  hopes  of  succeeding  to  the  Papal 
throne.  The  Spanish  league  might  stand  for  a  time,  but  this 
sealed  its  fate,  and  peace  was  made  with  France  in  1525. 
Charles  had  indeed  given  Henry  good  grounds  for  going  over 
to  the  French  side,  by  casting  doubts  on  the  legitimacy  of  Mary," 
and  obtaining  a  dispensation  from  his  betrothal  to  her,  and 
marrying  the  infanta  of  Portugal.  Mary,  now  nine  years  old, 
was  presently  proposed  for  a  French  marriage,  but  the  old  ques- 
tion as  to  her  mother's  marriage  seems  to  have  been  raised 
in  this  quarter  also.  The  effect  of  such  affronts,  acting  on 
Henry's  own  long  cherished  feelings,  was  soon  apparent.  His 
determination  to  obtain  a  divorce  was,  apparently,  henceforth 
fixed.  But,  meanwhile,  a  new  personage  appeared  on  the  scene, 
destined  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  crisis. 

»  Burnet,  i.  !&  *  Ibid.  L  9. 

8 


152  The  English  Reformation.         [ad.  1514— issi- 

In  the  year  1514,  a  girl  in  her  fourteenth  year  had  come  to 
court,  as  one  of  the  suite  of  the  Princess  Mary,  in  her  bridal 
journey  to  France,  to  marry  old  King  Louis.  She  had  been 
bom  and  brought  up  in  Kent,  and  was  just  a  year  younger  than 
the  century.*  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  steady  impugner  of 
Catherine's  marriage,  was  her  grandfather;  and  her  grand- 
mother, whose  name  she  bore,  was  Anne  Plantagenet,  sister  of 
Henry's  mother,  Elizabeth  of  York.  The  daughter  of  this 
couple.  Lady  Elizabeth  Howard,  had  married  Sir  Thomas 
Boleyn,  and  after  bearing  two  girls  and  three  sons,  had  died 
in  1 51 2,  when  Anne,  her  firstborn,  was  in  her  eleventh  year, 
and  while  her  husband  was  abroad  on  the  king's  service.  Two 
of  her  sons  had  died  before  her,  and  thus  the  two  girls  and  a 
boy  only  remained. 

Anne  had  been  well  and  carefully  trained,  and  her  bright 
intelligence  and  love  of  reading  had  carried  her  far  beyond 
the  usual  female  accomplishments  of  the  day. 

Nor  had  her  higher  education  been  neglected.  Her  father's 
character  may  be  judged  from  Erasmus  having  dedicated  to 
him  in  1533,  ^  book  on  the  Creed,  the  Ten  Commandments, 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer.  He  had  previously  sent  him  at  his  own 
request  an  exposition  of  the  twenty-second  Psalm,  and  shortly 
before  his  death,  in  1536,  wrote  for  him  a  short  devotional 
book  on  "  Preparation  for  Death."*  A  household,  the  head  of 
which  had  tastes  such  as  these  indications  show,  must  have 
surrounded  Anne  from  her  childhood  with  the  healthiest  moral 
influences. 

Her  father's  connection  with  the  Norfolk  family  had  taught 
her  from  her  earliest  years  to  look  on  the  queen  as  not  really 
Henry's  wife,  and  this  must  have  been  her  feeling  when  she 
came  to  court.  She  did  so  at  an  unlucky  time  for  Catherine, 
for  Henry  was  then  furious  at  his  father-in-law's  duplicity,  and 
had   found  the    queen  intriguing  in  her  worthless  father's 

*  She  was  born  in  1501.  »  Drummond's  Erasmus,  iu  331. 


A.D.  1514—1521]  Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         153 

interest  against  Mary's  marriage  with  the  French  king.  Nor- 
folk, Anne's  grandfather,  moreover,  as  the  head  of  the  French 
party,  and  of  the  opponents  of  Catherine's  own  marriage,  was 
in  the  rough  ascendant. 

In  France,  Mary  kept  Anne  near  her ;  for  her  perfect  French, 
and  her  airy  cleverness,  made  her  equally  useful  and  agreeable. 
When  Louis  died,  eleven  weeks  after  his  marriage,  she  remained 
in  close  attendance  on  the  young  widow,  but  was  presently 
transferred  to  the  household  of  the  new  French  queen,  Claude, 
where  she  remained  till  recalled  by  Henry,  as  a  connection  of 
Norfolk's,  in  1 521,  on  the  expected  breaking  out  of  a  French 
war. 

On  her  return  to  England,  after  seven  years  spent  in  France, 
Anne  was  presently  named  to  a  position  in  attendance  on  the 
queen  at  court.  Now  nearly  twenty-one,  she  had  grown  into  a 
pale  woman,  not  in  a  strict  sense  beautiful,  but  alive  with  bright 
intelligence  and  vivacity,  which  sparkled  from  eyes  that  of  them- 
selves made  her  charming.  She  had  enjoyed  the  finest  intel- 
lectual society  of  France,  which  consisted  largely  of  friends  of 
the  New  Learning,  from  whom  she  caught  a  liberal  enthusiasm 
of  thought  and  heart.  She  was  widely  read,  and  wrote  an 
English  style  to  be  envied  for  its  purity  and  brightness.  The 
life  of  every  circle  she  entered,  playful  and  sedate  by  turns, 
she  was  always  innocent  and  charming.  Men  forgot  her  plain- 
ness the  moment  she  smiled  or  spoke. 

Erelong,  as  was  natural,  she  had  a  lover — Lord  Percy — and 
she  loved  him  in  return.  But  Wolsey  had  designed  a  different 
match  for  her,  and  removed  her  from  court,  forcing  Percy  to 
marry  another.  No  wonder  that  Anne  vowed  she  would  one 
day  repay  the  Cardinal  for  blighting  the  first  love-flowers  of  her 
heart.  If  she  could  be  brought  to  yield,  Anne  was  to  be 
married  to  her  cousin,  James  Butler,  a  Kilkenny  Irishman, 
whom  the  marriage,  it  was  thought,  might  tame  from  the 
habitual  rebellion  of  his  race.  But  she  had  a  will  of  her  own, 
and  refused  him  definitely.    Meanwhile,  when  sent  away  from 


1 54  The  English  Reformation.         [ad.  1524-1526. 

court,  she  had  returned  to  her  father's  house,  Hever  Castle, 
seven  miles  west  of  Tunbridge  in  Kent. 

In  1524,  her  grandfather  and  friend,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  who  had  conceived  a 
dislike  of  the  Boleyns  from  private  grudges,  and  of  Anne, 
especially,  for  her  refusal  to  help,  by  marrying  Butler,  to  create 
a  loyal  party  in  the  Irish  Pale.  He  was  on  bad  terms,  indeed, 
with  nearly  all  his  family  ;  for,  apart  from  other  grounds,  he  had 
abandoned  and  betrayed  the  political  principles  of  the  House 
of  Norfolk. 

That  the  head  of  so  great  a  family  should  be  thwarted  by  a 
girl  of  a  lower  branch  of  it  was  an  offence  which  his  position 
as  chief  enabled  him  to  make  her  feel  in  many  ways.  But 
Anne  was  resolved  not  to  marry  by  command,  and  chose  rather 
to  leave  England,  and  live  with  the  archduchess  IMarguerite, 
daughter  of  the  late  German  emperor.  Max,  who  had  invited 
her  to  do  so.  Here,  at  MechUn,  she  was  free  from  the  perse- 
cution of  Wolsey  and  of  her  uncle  Norfolk,  and  was  hailed  as 
the  light  and  charm  of  the  Flemish  court.  "I  find  in  her," 
wrote  Marguerite  to  Anne's  father,  "  so  pure  a  spirit,  and  so 
perfect  an  address  for  a  lady  of  her  years,  that  I  am  more 
beholden  to  you  for  sending  her  than  you  can  be  to  me  for 
receiving  her." 

A  year  passed,  and  things  looked  brighter  at  home,  so  that 
Anne  could  return ;  and  hence,  in  1526,  she  was  once  more  at 
Hever.  Her  father,  now  Viscount  Rochford,  was  with  her,  and 
was  honoured  soon  after  her  return  by  a  visit  from  Henry.  He 
had  seen  her  before,  in  1522,  and  from  that  time  had  begim  to 
heap  honours  on  her  father,  but  now  he  seems  to  have  fallen 
definitely  in  love  with  her.  Her  wit,  her  modesty,  her  smile, 
her  innocence,  and  her  shining  eyes  fairly  won  him  ;  so  that  on 
his  return  to  London  he  spoke  of  her  as  having  "  the  soul  of  an 
angel,  and  a  spirit  worthy  of  a  crown."  Wolsey,  full  of  dreams 
of  a  French  marriage  for  Henry,  when  the  divorce  from 
Catherine  was  obtained— a  marriage  which  would  bind  England 


A.D.  1526.]         Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         155 

and  France  together,  and  make  himself  and  his  schemes 
supreme  in  Christendom — insinuated  that  marriage  with  Anne 
was  not  to  be  thought  of,  but  that  a  prince  could  do  as  he  liked 
with  women's  hearts,  without  marrying.  A  priest  and  would-be 
reformer  this  !  Henry,  now  coarsening  every  day,  acted  on 
Wolsey's  hints,  but  Anne  met  his  advances  by  telling  him  that 
"  she  did  not  understand  them.  She  could  not  be  his  wife 
and  would  never  be  his  mistress."  The  answer  completed  her 
victory.  Henry  would,  henceforth,  have  none  for  queen  but  a 
soul  so  pure  and  so  brave. 

Dreaming  of  nothing  beyond  a  shameful  intrigue,  Wolsey 
readily  helped  the  king  to  meet  his  new  lady-love,  and 
brought  them  together  at  feasts  and  dances  in  his  London 
palace  of  York  Place.  Henry  was  not  to  make  her  his,  how- 
ever, for  seven  long  years,  and,  to  his  honour,  he  proved  willing 
to  wait.  His  life  had  grown  lewd  and  immoral,  but  Anne's 
chasteness  awed  him,  and  kept  him  true  to  her.  His  letters  to 
her  were  those  of  one  foolishly  in  love,  but  she  did  not  encou- 
rage his  suit.  Her  heart  had  not  forgotten  Percy.  Her  father, 
a  good  man,  her  uncle  Norfolk,  and  the  whole  circle  in  which 
she  moved,  thought  the  king  free  to  marry  again  if  he  chose, 
and  endless  dreams  of  ambition  turned  on  his  choosing  Anne. 
Norfolk  would  be  in  Wolsey's  place,  and  Anne's  father  be  made 
a  duke.  Amidst  all  this,  however,  Anne  bore  herself  so  dis- 
creetly, that  even  Catherine  took  no  offence  at  her.  She  never 
thought  of  her  as  a  possible  rival,  and  admired  her  for  her 
virtue,  when  so  many  other  court  ladies  had  shown  so  little. 

In  1526,  Henry's  illegitimate  son,  the  Duke  of  Richmond, 
was  a  bright  and  healthy  boy  of  seven — his  very  health  and 
brightness  estranging  his  father  more  than  ever  from  Catherine, 
with  whom  he  had  not  lived  since  1524'.  This  and  the  new  passion 
for  Anne  Boleyn  led  at  last  to  his  taking  active  steps  towards  a 
divorce.  In  the  summer  of  1526  the  question  was  for  the  first 
time  brought  before  the  Pope  with  all  possible  secrecy,  but  it 
was  found  to  be  almost  hopeless  to  get  a  favourable  decision. 


156  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1536. 

Wolsey  had  discussed  the  subject  with  the  king  for  many  months 
back,  and  this  was  his  first  scheme,  which  thus  conspicuously 
failed.^ 

The  laws  of  marriage  had  become  so  vague  and  uncertain  in 
these  times,  by  the  extension  of  the  Canon  Law  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  ready  granting  of  dispensations  for  money  on  the 
other,  that  no  divorce  seemed  beyond  possibility,  and  most 
could  be  had  as  a  mere  matter  of  business.  The  tangled 
casuistry  then  prevalent  regarding  marriage  and  divorce,  as 
shown  in  the  Summa  of  Aquinas,  Henry's  special  favourite,  is 
indeed  simply  bewildering,'^  and  not  only  made  it  easy  for 
Church  lawyers  to  find  a  canonical  flaw  in  almost  any  mar- 
riage, but  threw  the  legitimacy  of  every  marriage  into  doubt. 
It  was  not  till  Cranmer  had  drawn  up  and  incorporated  in  a 
statute,  in  1533,  the  "Table  of  Kindred  and  Affinity,  wherein 
whosoever  are  related  are  forbidden  in  Scripture  and  our  Laws 
to  marry  together,"  that  even  the  most  honest  couple  could 
really  know  whether  their  union  was  legal  or  not ;  and  this 
Table  remains  in  our  Bibles  and  Church  Services,  with  its 
thirty  prohibited  degrees,  as  a  proof  of  the  confusion  and  diffi- 
culty it  was  intended  to  remove. 

The  dispensing  power  of  the  Pope  had  been  abused  to  legalize 
marriages  even  of  aunts  and  nephews.  Pre-contracts,  long  kept 
secret,  were  admitted  as  valid  pleas  to  annul  marriages  which 
had  passed  as  legal  for  years.  Divorces  were  often  granted  on 
the  most  scandalous  and  frivolous  pretexts.  Henry's  favourite, 
the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  had  actually  a  wife  living  when  he  married 
the  king's  sister,  Mary,  and  to  prevent  objections  on  that 
ground  to  the  legitimacy  of  his  children,  he  obtained  a  Bull, 
years  after,  from  Clement  VIL,who  would  not  free  Henry.  To 
that  previous  wife,  moreover,  he  had  been  first  betrothed,  when 

'  Brewer's  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.'s  reign,  Vol.  iv..  No.  1729,  and 
others. 

*  See  the  Summa  Theologise  (ed.  1671),  194  ff.,  where  117  different 
cases  of  conscience  regarding  marriage  are  discussed. 


A.O.  isa?.]         Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         1 57 

he  married  a  second  lady,  whom  he  afterwards  divorced  on  the 
ground  of  the  pre-contract,  after  which  he  was  married  to  her 
whom  he  had  before  deserted.  Henry's  sister,  Margaret  of 
Scotland,  obtained  a  divorce  from  Angus,  her  second  husband, 
on  the  frivolous  pretence  that  her  former  husband,  James  IV., 
might  have  survived  the  battle  of  Flodden,  and  have  been  alive 
when  she  married  again ;  and  being  thus  set  free,  she  took  a 
third  husband  more  to  her  taste.»  There  was,  therefore,  nothing 
in  Henry's  proposal  to  divorce  Catherine  that  could  shock  the 
public  opinion  of  the  age,  or  hinder  the  Pope  from  granting  a 
dispensation  on  moral  groimds.  Two  difficulties  only  stood  in 
the  way.  It  would  require  the  cancelling  of  a  previous  Papal 
dispensation,  and  it  would  expose  the  Pope  to  the  anger  of 
Catherine's  nephew,  Charles,  who  had  even  his  person  at  his 
mercy. 

The  scheme  of  a  secret  dispensation  having  failed,  Wolsey 
and  Warham  invented  a  seemingly  easier  course.  In  May, 
1527,  Henry  was  summoned  before  Wolsey,  as  Papal  Legate — of 
course,  with  his  own  consent — to  answer  the  charge  of  living  in 
an  unlawful  union  with  his  brother  Arthur's  widow,  for  eighteen 
years.  The  king  read  a  reply  to  Wolsey's  mock  indictment, 
and  asked  leave  to  name  a  proctor  in  further  proceedings.  The 
court  was  then  adjourned,  on  the  plea  that  time  was  needed  to 
consult  with  learned  bishops,  divines,  and  lawyers ;  but,  of 
course,  it  had  been  pre-arranged  that  judgment  should  be  given 
against  the  king,  commanding  him  to  put  away  Catherine  as 
not  his  lawful  wife.  The  whole  proceedings  had  been  intended 
to  have  been  absolutely  secret,  but,  unfortunately  for  their  suc- 
cess, Catherine  got  word  of  them  presently,  and  the  scheme  not 
only,  like  the  former  one,  utterly  failed,  but  led  to  Henry's 
distrust  of  Wolsey,  on  suspicion  of  his  having  told  the  queen. 
Nothing  remained  but  to  refer  to  the  Pope  openly.'^ 

'  Church  Quarterly,  iii.  314. 

«  The  whole  conspiracy  is  revealed  by  Prof.  Brewer,  in  his  Introduction 
to  his  fourth  volume  of  State  Papers,  just  publisheu. 


158  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1527. 

Wolsey's  long  reign  was  at  last  drawing  to  a  close.  The  out- 
cry against  him,  which  had  hitherto  been  unheeded  by  Henry, 
was  now  for  the  first  time  listened  to.  His  arrogance,  his  erec- 
tion of  a  despotism  in  place  of  the  old  liberties  of  England,  and 
his  abuse  of  his  legatine  commission,  had  incited  clergy  and 
laity  of  all  ranks  against  him,  and  Henry  was  ready  to  sacri- 
fice him  to  the  clamour,  now  that  he  had  taken  offence  at  him  ; 
but  he  granted  him  a  respite  for  the  time,  on  receiving  the 
bribe  of  his  new  palace  of  Hampton  Court,  accompanied  with 
professions  of  the  deepest  contrition. 

War  was  now  raging  furiously  between  France  and  Charles, 
in  Italy.  The  French  king  had  been  taken  prisoner  after  the 
battle  of  Pavia,  in  1525,  and  though  ransomed  by  the  interces- 
sion of  Henry,  had  had  to  submit  to  such  hard  conditions  that 
hostilities  had  broken  out  again  at  once.  In  1527,  Rome  was 
taken  and  sacked  by  a  Spanish  army,  with  unspeakable  horrors  ; 
and  for  the  time  Charles  seemed  the  deadly  enemy  of  the  Pope, 
and  France  his  friend.  Henry  stood  true  to  Francis,  in  this 
belief,  in  which  Wolsey  shared,  for  Cavendish  saw  him  "  weep- 
ing tenderly"  at  the  Pope's  danger.^  Charles  was  apparently 
aiming  at  universal  monarchy,  and  fighting  to  promote  the  hated 
Lutheran  Reformation.  War  with  Charles,  and  alliance  with 
France,  seemed  the  only  hope  for  the  Church.  The  Spanish 
alliance  was,  therefore,  finally  broken  off  by  Wolsey,  and  a 
new  treaty  made  with  France,  at  once  for  political  and  religious 
motives. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  the  wild  confusion  of  all  Christendom 
at  an  event  so  astounding  as  Charles's  storming  of  Rome,  that 
Catherine's  affairs  were  first  brought  before  the  Pope.  She  was 
now  forty-two,  and  all  hope  of  children  had  ceased.  Henry  was 
thirty-six.  Henry  had  not  lived  with  her,  as  her  husband,  since 
1524.  She  was  cold  and  reserved,  as  she  grew  older,  and  more 
embittered.    A  marriage  begun  in  craft,  on  her  side,  had  ended 

*  Cavendish's  Wolsey,  77. 


A.D.  1537]         Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         159 

as  might  have  been  expected.  His  father,  on  his  death-bed, 
had  charged  Henry  not  to  marry  her.^  Warham  had  declared 
the  marriage  incestuous,  and  a  large  party  supported  him.  It 
seemed,  indeed,  as  if  even  Providence  held  it  so,  for  the  curse 
denounced  on  such  unions  had  blighted  his  hopes,  and  threat- 
ened to  entail  hideous  disaster  on  the  nation  at  his  death.  Nearly 
all  the  bishops  had  declared  against  it.  Application  was  there- 
fore made  to  Rome  for  a  Bull  pronouncing  it  invalid,  and 
Wolsey  backed  the  application  by  carrying  over  ;^240,ooo, 
equal  to  nearly  three  millions  now,  to  France,  to  be  paid  as  a 
ransom  for  the  Pope's  liberty.  With  such  a  bribe  he  made 
sure  he  would  forthwith  get  all  that  he  wanted — and  then, 
in  league  with  France,  with  a  new  English  queen,  and  the 
succession  established,  what  vistas  did  not  open ! 

Unfortunately  for  these  nice  calculations.  Pope  Clement 
escaped  in  December  1527,  and  was  free  to  weigh  at  his  leisure 
the  proposal  to  pronounce  the  marriage  void.  To  say  that  a 
former  Pope  had  erred  was  next  to  impossible.  Nor  would  it 
better  affairs  to  make  known  that  the  bull  authorizing  the 
marriage  had  been  stolen  by  Catherine's  mother,  and  had  never 
been  published  by  the  Pope.  It  had  at  least  been  signed  by 
him.  Clement,  like  his  predecessors,  had  been  infinitely  obliged 
to  Henry,  but  England  was  far  away,  and  Charles  was  close  at 
hand ;  with  Rome,  as  had  been  only  too  terribly  shown,  in  his 
power.  The  bull  asked  was  clearly  not  to  be  granted  if  possible, 
for,  in  any  case,  it  would  bring  trouble.  Meanwhile,  the 
Roman  lawyers  had  the  faculty  of  infinite  delay. 

Since  the  Pope  could  not  be  brought  summarily  to  annul  the 
act  of  his  predecessor,  and  the  case  must  be  tried  on  its  own 
merits,  the  great  aim  of  Henry  was  to  have  it  gone  into  as  soon 
as  possible.  For  this  end,  since  he  would  on  no  account  think 
of  going  to  Rome  to  plead,  strong  pressure  was  put  on  Clement 
to  appoint  a  legatine  court  which  should  sit  in  London,  and 

^  Morrison's  Apomaxis,  13. 


i6o  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  uaa 

there  grant  the  divorce  desired ;  and  at  last  he  was  brought  to 
appoint  Campeggio — whom  Henry  had  named,  thinking  he  could 
count  on  his  support  as  he  had  been  heavily  bribed — and 
Wolsey — to  hear  and  determine  the  suit,  Campeggio  had  been 
appointed  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  Henry  had  given  him  a  gift 
of  a  palace  in  Rome  and  lent  him  money.  But  though  a 
cardinal  he  had  children  to  support,  and  no  principle  to  check 
his  using  any  means  to  do  so ;  and  hence,  before  leaving  for 
England  he  had  sold  himself  to  the  emperor.  But  it  was  not 
easy,  even  when  the  Commission  had  been  granted,  to  get 
Clement  to  act  on  it.  He  implored  that  it  should  not  be  pub- 
lished till  Charles's  German  and  Spanish  army  had  left,  and  at 
last  sent  Campeggio,  with  secret  instructions  that  the  trial  was 
to  be  only  a  form,  leaving  the  whole  matter  unsettled.  Yet 
nothing  was  omitted  which  could  deceive  Henry  for  the  time. 
The  legate  brought  with  him  the  long  wished-for  bull  declaring 
the  marriage  with  Catherine  void,  but  it  was  on  no  account  to 
be  shown  except  to  Henry  himself  and  Wolsey.  "  If  it  were 
shown,"  said  the  Pope,  "  he  would  be  ruined,  and  he  grieved 
much  that  he  had  granted  it.  He  was  undone  for  ever,  if  it 
came  to  the  Emperor's  ears."  He  might,  indeed,  well  be,  for 
Charles  had  threatened  to  set  him  aside  from  the  papal  throne 
as  a  bastard,  if  he  dared  grant  it. 

Campeggio  was  directed  to  delay  as  long  as  he  could  on  his 
journey  to  London,  in  the  hope  that  some  escape  from  even 
the  mockery  of  a  trial  might  be  found  in  the  interval,  and 
he  was  further  directed  to  try  to  make  an  arrangement  with 
Catherine  in  private,  before  going  any  further,  when  he  reached 
London.  But  his  efforts  in  this  direction  were,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  fruitless. 

When  at  last  it  was  inevitable  that  the  court  must  sit,  every 
one  felt  that  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  England  had  come.  If 
the  divorce  were  granted,  it  would  secure  Henry's  loyalty  to 
Rome,  and  with  it  the  continuance  of  the  existing  relations 
between  England  and  the  Papacy.      If  it  were   refused,  the 


44>.  1539-1         Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         i6i 

refusal  would  inaugurate  a  revolution.  "  If  justice  be  denied," 
said  Wolsey  to  Campeggio  in  a  preliminary  interview,  "  two 
things  will  happen.  I  will  fall,  and  when  I  fall  the  power  of 
the  Pope  will  vanish  from  the  land.  Beware,  most  reverend 
lord,"  he  repeated,  again  and  again,  "  lest  England  be  driven 
to  follow  in  the  wake  of  Germany.  A  cardinal  estranged  the 
Germans  from  the  Holy  See.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  another 
cardinal  has  caused  another  loss.  Unless  this  marriage  is 
annulled,  the  authority  of  Rome  is  gone." 

Meanwhile,  the  long  delay  of  the  negotiations,  the  apparent 
trifling  with  the  king,  and  anxiety  respecting  the  succession, 
were  spreading  a  wide  excitement,  and  tumults  seemed  likely. 
Catherine,  unyielding  and  formal,  had  announced  that  she 
would  take  no  steps  without  consulting  the  emperor,  her 
nephew.  Threats  of  withdrawal  from  connection  with  Rome 
began  to  be  made,  but  they  only  deepened  the  confusion. 
Campeggio's  private  life  created  scandal  at  his  scruples  on  the 
ground  of  morality.  Bribery,  intrigue,  and  vileness  of  every 
kind  marked  the  legal  preparations.  Society  in  all  ranks 
was  intensely  agitated.  Wolsey  was  "  ready  to  give  his  life, 
rather  than  let  the  king's  business  fall  through." 

The  legate's  court  was  at  length  opened  at  Blackfriars,  on 
the  last  day  of  May,  1529,  but  the  first  step  in  the  proceedings 
brought  home  to  all  minds  the  inconsistency  of  such  a  court 
being  held  at  all.  The  voice  of  the  crier  surrunoning  Henry, 
King  of  England,  to  appear  before  two  priests  acting  for  a 
foreign  authority  shocked  the  national  pride.  The  spectacle  of 
an  English  king  and  queen  cited  to  appear,  like  common  per- 
sons, before  a  court  in  their  own  realm  was  felt  as  an  indignity 
offered,  in  their  persons,  to  the  crown.  But  as  nothing  was 
intended  to  be  done,  an  adjournment  was  aimounced,  after  a 
few  formal  proceedings,  till  June  i8th,  when  Catherine  appeared 
in  person,  and  appealed  to  Rome,  denying  the  competence  of 
the  legates  to  try  her  case.  This  was  excuse  enough  for  a  fresh 
adjournment,  but  the  farce  could  not  be  hurried  to  an  end. 


1 62  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1529. 

Proceedings  were,  therefore,  stayed  till  October  nth,  on  the  pre- 
text that  the  court  could  not  sit  in  London  during  the  legal 
vacation  at  Rome.  Before  that  day  the  Pope  had  sent  a  formal 
command,  for  which  Campeggio  had  been  waiting  all  along,  to 
transfer  the  whole  case  forthwith  to  Rome.  In  pursuance  of 
this,  Campeggio  issued  a  summons  requiring  Henry  to  appear 
in  Rome  before  the  Roman  lawyers,  within  forty  days,  and  then 
declared  the  court  broken  up. 

The  excitement  was  tremendous,  for  the  end  that  had  been 
dreaded  had  come,  and  it  was  felt  that  a  revolution  had  been 
inaugurated.  Henry's  monstrous  self-will  that  swept  everything 
from  its  path  was  not  likely  to  submit  to  the  arrogant  demand 
to  appear  as  a  party  to  a  suit  in  an  Italian  court,  or  to  let  itself 
be  thwarted.  "  If  his  Grace  should  at  any  time  come  to  Rome," 
wrote  Wolsey,  "  it  would  be  with  such  an  army  royal  as  should 
be  formidable  both  to  the  Pope  and  to  all  Italy/' '  All  classes 
were  indignant  at  the  affront  offered  to  the  Crown,  and  even 
those  most  loyal  to  the  doctrines  of  Rome  were  ready  for  any 
assertion  of  the  national  independence  of  all  foreign  jurisdiction 
in  their  king's  affairs. 

The  first  to  feel  the  shock  was  Wolsey.  With  such  a  master 
the  one  condition  of  favour  was  success,  and  his  policy  had 
ignominiously  failed.  The  burden  of  the  whole  case  had  been 
laid  on  him,  and  by  his  advice  Henry  had  submitted  himself  to 
all  this  humiliation,  only  to  find  himself  mocked  before  Europe. 
Past  services  had  no  weight  in  a  breast  that  knew  no 
gratitude,  and  had  been  taught,  even  by  Wolsey  himself,  that 
his  subjects  existed  only  for  his  royal  pleasure.  His  great 
minister  was  of  no  further  use  and  must  be  sacrificed,  if  only  to 
give  some  vent  to  the  fury  roused  by  his  failure  and  its  results. 

It  was  easy  to  ruin  him,  for,  as  in  Henry  VII.'s  day,  the 
judges  were  always  ready  to  carry  out  the  royal  will,  by  invent- 
ing crimes,  if  necessary,  or  by  fining  and  imprisoning  juries  if 


State  Papers,  vii.  193. 


A.D.  IS29-]         Beginning  of  the  Quarrel  with  Rome.         163 

they  were  not  sufficiently  docile.*  No  sooner  had  the  court  been 
adjourned,  on  the  last  day  of  July,  than  he  was  dismissed  from 
waiting  on  Henry,  who  never  saw  him  again.  All  parties  at 
once  united  to  press  him  to  his  fall.  Suffolk  had  cried  out  in 
court  when  Campeggio  had  finally  adjourned  it,  that  "  it  was 
never  merry  in  England  while  we  had  cardinals  amongst  us," 
and  Anne's  friends  were  no  less  bitter.  The  attorney-general 
was  therefore  instructed  to  proceed  against  him,  and  drew  up 
an  indictment  which  was  the  ideal  of  injustice.  He  was  accused 
of  having  procured  bulls  from  Rome  to  act  as  legate,  although 
he  had  done  so  with  the  knowledge  and  assistance,  and  for  the 
service  of  the  king,  who  used  the  office  to  widen  the  area  of  his 
growing  despotism,  and  he  had  acted  on  them  for  years  under 
his  eye.  Henry  had,  indeed,  himself,  solicited  the  legateship  for 
his  then  favourite,  and  had  shared  the  profits  it  brought.  But . 
the  shameless  wickedness  of  such  a  charge  weighed  little  with 
such  a  master.  There  were,  perhaps,  special  irritations  of  the 
moment  to  make  him  furious.  Copies  of  letters  of  Wolsey,  pro- 
cured from  Rome,  had  been  brought  to  London,  showing  that, 
in  his  desperation,  the  falling  man  had  made  proposals  of  his 
own  to  the  Pope,  unknown  to  Henry."  In  any  case,  he  was 
imdone. 

Two  bills  were  suddenly  filed  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench, 
on  the  opening  day  of  the  Michaelmas  Term,  charging  him 
with  having  exercised  legatine  authority  in  England  contrary 
to  law ;  and,  knowing  with  whom  he  had  to  do,  he  pleaded 
guilty,  and  threw  himself  for  mercy  at  Henry's  feet.  On  the 
17th  of  October  he  was  required  to  surrender  the  Great  Seal, 
which  was  given  to  Sir  Thomas  More,  for  the  king  had  had 
enough  of  priests.  The  catastrophe  unmanned  him.  "Any 
one,"  says  Cavendish,  "  would  pity  him.  His  tears  and  words 
fail  him.  He  is  willing  to  leave  all,  if  only  the  king  were  not 
against  him."' 

'  Bacon's  Henry  VI L     Works  iii.  404. 
*  Cavendish,  151 — 106.  *  Ibid.  156. 


164  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  153a 

One  step  now  quickly  followed  another.  An  inventory  of  his 
plate  and  furniture,  worth  half  a  million  in  our  money,  was 
ordered,  and  all  was  seized,  he  himself  being  ordered  to  go  to 
his  house  at  Esher.  To  complete  his  ruin,  Norfolk,  his  enemy, 
became  President  of  the  Council,  and  Suffolk  Vice-President — 
the  posts  nearest  the  king.  The  people  expected  him  to  be 
sent  to  the  Tower,  and  rejoiced  at  his  fall.  In  February  he 
received  a  general  pardon,  but  was  ordered  to  retire  to  York, 
where,  as  archbishop,  he  won  golden  opinions  by  his  affability 
and  lowliness,  so  much  in  contrast  with  his  past  characteristics. 
But  his  popularity,  through  this,  was  his  ruin,  for  his  enemies 
at  Court,  fearing  he  would  once  more  regain  dangerous  in- 
fluence, had  him  arrested,  by  Henry's  orders,  in  November, 
1530,  and  he  died,  worn  out  and  broken  hearted,  at  Leicester, 
on  his  way  to  London,  where  doubtless  his  master  would  have 
given  him  up  without  a  second  thought.  Only  his  death  saved 
him  from  the  scaffold. 


7     ■ »     ■  ■      ■ '      ■  ■      'I      H     II      n      18     II      II      II  ~TC 


II    II    II    II    n    II    M    ir    II    II   u   ii-J 


CHAPTER  X. 

ENGLAND  DECLARED  FREE  FROM  ROME, 

THE  fall  of  Wolsey,  in  1529,  had  marl^ed  the  beginning  of 
a  revolution  which  the  citation  of  the  king  to  Rome 
had  inaugurated,  but  it  remained  to  be  seen  how  far  it  would  be 
carried.  Nor  was  expectation  kept  long  in  suspense.  A  week 
after  the  Great  Seal  had  been  taken  from  the  Cardinal  it  was 
given,  for  the  first  time  in  men's  memory,  to  a  layman — Sir 
Thomas  More — who  thus  became  Speaker  of  the  Upper  House. 
The  charge  on  which  Wolsey  had  been  crushed  had,  moreover, 
finally  established  the  secular  courts  as  supreme  over  Church 
as  well  as  State,  and  had,  at  last,  settled  for  ever  the  long 
struggle  on  this  point  between  England  and  Rome.  That  the 
test  case  which  decided  this  should  have  been  that  of  a  prince 
of  the  Church,  acting  as  legate  of  the  Pope,  of  itself  precluded 
future  vacillation.  That  the  Pope  henceforth  had  thus  no  more 
jurisdiction  in  England  than  any  other  foreign  prince  was  itself 
a  momentous  reform. 

Another  step  in  the  revolution  soon  followed,  in  the  calling 
of  Parliament,  which  had  not  sat  since  1523.  The  fallen 
minister  had  kept  the  royal  exchequer  supplied  by  loans  and 
"  benevolences "  as  tyrannical  as  those  of  Henry  VII. ;  not 
caring  to  meet  the  Commons,  which  had  so  roughly  thwarted 
his  wishes  at  its  last  meeting.  But  Henry  felt  that  he  was  now 
the   master.     The  concentration  in  one  hand  of  such  vast 


1 66  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1529. 

power  as  had  been  held  by  Wolsey  had  prepared  the  people  for 
still  further  advances  towards  absolutism,  by  the  king.  His 
despotism  was  now  at  last  thoroughly  organized,  and  the  ease 
with  which  he  had  smitten  down  Wolsey  showed  him  that  any 
one  who  opposed  him  lay  helplessly  at  his  mercy.  He  intended 
to  begin  a  reign  of  terror,  and  to  use  Parliament  as  his  servile 
tool  in  carrying  it  out.  His  personal  character  had  been  no 
less  changed  than  all  else  by  the  crisis.  Henceforward  all  the 
constitutional  safeguards  of  English  freedom  were  to  be  brushed 
aside  like  spiders'  webs.  King-worship  was  to  reign.  Bound- 
less selfishness  and  monstrous  self-will  were  to  trample  under 
foot  all  that  opposed  them  in  Church  and  State.  Arbitrary 
taxation,  arbitrary  legislation,  arbitrary  imprisonments,  were  to 
become  the  rules  of  government,  and  the  lives  of  the  noblest  in 
the  land  were  to  hang  on  a  royal  word.  But,  happily,  these 
things  were  for  the  most  part  hidden  as  yet.  For  the  present, 
the  helpless  servility  of  the  new  Parliament  was  sufficiently 
shown  by  its  meekly  cancelling  the  king's  debts,  though  secured 
imder  the  Great  Seal. 

But  its  other  proceedings  showed  at  once  the  advancement 
in  public  opinion  on  ecclesiastical  matters  in  the  last  few  years. 
More,  as  a  friend  of  the  New  Learning,  was  in  favour  of  cor- 
recting the  most  prominent  abuses  in  the  state  of  the  Church, 
but  was  even  more  zealous  in  his  dread  of  any  doctrinal  changes. 
He  had  nothing  good  to  say  of  his  predecessor,  who  was  "  a 
great  wether,  that  had  most  craftily,  scabbedly,  and  untruly 
juggled  the  king;"  and  it  would  have  fared  ill  with  the  cardinal 
but  for  the  bold  fidelity  of  Thomas  Cromwell,  who  for  some 
years  back  had  been  in  his  service,  and  was  destined  to  be  the 
foremost  man,  under  the  king,  in  the  great  changes  impending. 
No  fewer  than  thirty-five  charges  were  brought  against  Wolsey, 
on  each  of  which  Cromwell  vigorously  defended  him,  with  such 
success  that  the  impeachment  virtually  broke  down.  The  daring 
advocate  had  no  doubt  learned  that  the  king  did  not  as  yet  feel 
it  safe  to  take  the  life  of  a  cardinal  of  the  Church  while  the 


Ajj.  IS30.]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  167 

future  was  so  uncertain,  else  such  boldness  would  have  been 
merely  suicidal.  The  Archbishopric  of  York  had  been  left  to 
the  fallen  man,  and  at  the  demand  of  his  enemy  he  was 
banished  to  it.  But  his  spirit  was  utterly  broken,  and  his 
strength  exhausted  by  his  tremendous  labours  when  in  power. 
A  few  months  passed  in  quiet  obscurity  were  now  all  that 
remained  to  him. 

Meanwhile  the  Revolution  advanced  amain.  Convocation 
had  been  once  and  again  summoned  during  the  past  years  to 
discuss  the  reforms  which  all  felt  necessary,  but,  even  with 
Wolsey  at  its  head,  nothing  could  be  done.  Now,  however, 
under  More,  Parliament  took  the  subject  into  its  own  hands, 
thus  quietly  assuming  what  the  bishops  and  clergy  so  vigorously 
challenged,  that  the  Church  no  less  than  the  State  was  under 
its  control.  The  Commons  drew  up  a  petition  to  the  king, 
complaining  that  the  clergy  made  laws  in  Convocation,  without 
the  king's  assent  or  that  of  the  people ;  that  the  procedure  of 
Church  courts  was  oppressive  ;  that  ecclesiastical  patronage  was 
abused,  and  that  the  number  of  holy  days  was  too  great.  Henry 
referred  the  petition  to  the  Upper  House  of  Convocation,  but  it 
would  do  nothing.  The  Commons,  however,  were  determined 
to  go  on,  and  passed  statutes  reducing  greatly  the  fees  of  the 
Church  lawyers  on  probates  of  wills,  and  the  claims  for  mor- 
tuaries, which  had  excited  so  much  attention  in  the  case  of 
Hunne.  The  clergy  were  further  prohibited  from  engaging  in 
trade,  which  they  had  hitherto  largely  done.  A  statute  was  also 
passed  against  pluralities,  and  to  enforce  residence,  but  it  had 
too  many  exceptions  to  be  of  much  effect.  The  rights  of  Con- 
vocation were  left  till  a  future  opportunity. 

It  was  still,  however,  the  day  for  half  measures,  and  the  acts 
against  non-residence  and  pluralities  were  too  weak  to  do  much 
good.  The  Church  was  as  yet  too  powerful,  or  the  laity  too 
remiss.  All  clergy  of  the  King's  Council  might  hold  three 
benefices ;  all  chaplains  of  any  member  of  the  royal  family 
might  hold  two;    and  this  abuse   was  permitted  also  to  all 


l68  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1529- 

chaplains  of  the  nobility  or  of  bishops,  and  to  some  others  as 
well.  All  clergy  attending  Court,  or  in  the  suite  of  such  as 
were  licensed  to  have  chaplains,  and  all  pilgrims,  in  the  time  of 
going  or  returning,  might  be  non-resident.  No  wonder  that  a 
writer  of  the  time  cries  out,  "  O  Lord,  where  was  the  light  of 
thy  Word,  which  should  have  been  written  on  the  hearts  of  the 
makers  of  that  statute  ?"^  Unhappily  the  abuse  was  allowed  to 
linger  till  within  the  last  forty  years;  but,  in  our  day,  the  Church 
is,  at  last,  freed  from  it. 

The  fact  that  the  Commons  had  thus  legislated  on  ecclesias- 
tical reforms  was  felt  to  mark  a  new  departure  in  the  great 
struggle  between  the  Church  and  the  people.  Henceforward  it 
was  evident  that  the  State  intended  to  be  supreme.  Yet  there 
was  no  dream  of  hostility  to  any  received  doctrines,  but  rather 
the  desire  to  strengthen  the  Church  by  freeing  it  from  palpable 
abuses.  So  zealous  were  the  Commons,  indeed,  in  their  ortho- 
doxy, that  Fisher,  the  aged  bishop  of  Rochester, — a  warm  friend 
of  Erasmus,  and,  as  such,  a  patron  of  the  New  Learning,  but 
none  the  less  an  intensely  conservative  Churchman — had  to 
apologise  for  expressions  apparently  reflecting  on  them,  in  a 
speech  dehvered  against  their  daring  to  legislate  on  ecclesiastical 
matters.  The  quarrel  between  the  laity  and  the  Church  had  at 
last  broken  out,  and  was  never  to  be  healed. 

It  was  in  June,  1529,  while  the  Legatine  Court  yet  seemed 
to  promise  a  settlement  of  his  divorce,  that  the  king,  moving 
from  place  to  place,  to  flee  from  the  terrible  plague  known  as 
the  "  Sweating  Sickness,"  which  had  broken  out  once  more  at 
Court,  heard  of  Thomas  Cranmer.  He  was  now  thirty-nine, 
and  had  hitherto  spent  his  life  at  Cambridge.  There  he  had 
fallen  under  the  influence  of  Bilney,  and  was  one  of  the  band 
of  rising  men  who  felt  that  more  was  needed  than  a  merely 
superficial  Church  reform.     It  speaks  well  for  his  morals  that. 


*  A  Supplycacion  to  Our  Most  Soveraigne  Lord  King  Henry  VIII.  1544. 


AJ>- 1529-]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  169 

in  an  age  when  the  gentlemen  and  farmers  of  a  whole  county, 
in  an  address  to  the  king,  were  accusing  the  clergy  of  the 
systematic  seduction  of  their  wives  and  daughters ; '  when  the 
Church  authorities  were  denouncing  in  vain  the  immoraUty  of 
their  brethren  ;'*  and  when  even  Wolsey,  like  Antonelli  in  our  day, 
had  his  mistresses,  Cranmer  vindicated  a  purer  hfe  by  a  law- 
ful marriage.  He  chose,  say  Strype  and  Foxe,^  a  gentleman's 
daughter ;  gave  up  his  fellowship,  and  read  the  Common  Lec- 
ture at  Buckingham — now  Magdalen  College — ^but,  his  wife 
dying  in  the  first  year,  the  master  and  fellows  re-elected  him 
fellow,  and  he  remained  in  Cambridge  as  such.  His  character 
had,  therefore,  suffered  nothing  by  his  marriage,  a  fact  which, 
of  itself,  refutes  the  slander  against  his  wife.  Nor  was  private 
marriage  unknown  even  in  the  higher  ranks  of  the  Church  in 
those  days,  for  Archbishop  Warham  himself  was  a  married  man. 
Cranmer  had  entered  Jesus  College  in  1503,  when  a  boy  of 
fourteen,  and  had  been  elected  a  fellow  seven  years  later.  It 
was  in  15 14,  when  Anne  Boleyn  had  gone  first  to  France,  that 
he  gave  up  his  fellowship  on  his  marriage  ;  he  was  then 
twenty-three.  Regaining  it  next  year,  he  held  it  thence- 
forward, refusing  to  resign  it  for  a  better  position,  offered  him 
nine  years  later,  in  1524,  by  Wolsey.  In  1523,  when  he  was 
thirty-four,  he  had  been  made  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  was  ap- 
pointed Divinity  Reader  in  his  own  college,  and  Examiner  for 
degrees  in  Divinity,  and  these  oflSces  he  held  in  1529. 

In  September  of  that  year  the  plague  broke  out  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  Cranmer  went  on  a  visit  to  a  relative  of  his  late 
wife,  Mr.  Cressy,  at  Waltham  Cross,  a  village  in  Hertfordshire. 
While  there,  Henry  happened  to  come  the  same  way,  and  his 
secretaries,  Gardiner  and  Fox,  lodged  in  the  same  mansion  with 
Cranmer.     The  controversy  respecting  the  divorce  was  at  its 

*  See  Froude,  i.  96. 

•  See  Cardinal  Morton's  Address  to  the  Clergy.     Wilkins,  iii.  619. 
'  Memorials,  1848,  L  3.    Foxe,  viii.  4. 


lyo  TJte  English  Reformation.         [a.d.  1530-1531- 

height,  and  Cranmer  freely  expressed  himself  on  the  king's 
side,  and  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  Henry  should  no  longer 
trouble  himself  with  seeking  the  Pope's  sanction,  but  should, 
instead,  ask  that  of  the  different  universities  of  Europe.  It 
was,  at  best,  a  clumsy  expedient,  but  the  true  course — of 
deciding  the  matter  in  England — was  not  hit  upon  till  years 
later. 

On  hearing  the  conversation  repeated,  Henry  forthwith 
ordered  Cranmer  to  put  his  opinions  in  writing,  and  a  book  was 
the  result,  in  which  it  was  laid  down  that  the  relation  to  Cathe- 
rine was  in  itself  sinful  and  offered  nothing  to  annul,  but  left 
the  king  free  to  marry  at  once.  Such  a  marriage  as  his  had 
been,  Cranmer  held,  could  not  be  defended.  No  Pope  could 
dispense  with  a  prohibition  of  Scripture.  He  even  added,  in 
his  simplicity,  that  he  was  ready  to  go  to  Rome  and  argue  the 
question  before  the  Pope.  Meanwhile,  the  universities  should 
be  consulted  and  the  king  should  act  on  their  decision,  which 
must  be  for  him. 

Erelong,  Cranmer  was  sent  on  a  fruitless  errand  to  argue  the 
matter  at  Rome,  and,  soon  after,  was  busy  getting  the  Uni- 
versity Senates  to  give  their  opinions.  In  the  course  of  1530, 
nine,  by  one  means  or  other — not  always  honourable,  perhaps, 
on  either  side — had  given  their  verdict  in  the  king's  favour. 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  the  strongholds  of  the  old  faith,  were 
loath  to  condemn  a  Pope,  and  struggled  hard  to  say  nothing. 
But  they  had  their  master  in  Henry,  supported  by  Gardiner, 
Bonner,  and  others,  and  they  had,  reluctantly,  to  vote  the  mar- 
riage illegal.  It  was  known  that  the  Pope  had  interdicted 
Henry  from  marrymg  while  the  divorce  question  was  unsettled, 
and  though  the  bull  could  not  find  entry  to  England  it  stirred 
the  indignation  of  people  and  king  alike,  that  a  stranger  should 
thus  interfere,  and  yet  refuse  to  go  further  in  a  matter  so  grave. 

In  January,  1531,  Parliament  was  again  convened,  and  a 
hundred  writings  from  the  Universities  were  laid  before  it  on 
the  king's  side — Catherine,  on  hers,  being  no  less  active.    Thus 


AD.  1531]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  171 

for  the  first  time  in  English  history  both  king  and  queen  ap- 
pealed through  the  press  to  the  people.  The  churches,  the 
walls,  the  gates,  were  covered  with  bills,  in  vindication  of  the 
king's  cause,  and  books  and  pamphlets  were  circulated  through 
the  country  in  support  of  both  sides.  All  the  men  were  for  the 
king,  all  the  women  for  the  Pope  and  Catherine.  Nothing  else 
was  talked  of.  All  the  bishops  except  Fox  had  declared  for 
Henry.  The  universities  of  England  and  Europe,  either  freely 
or  otherwise,  had  endorsed  his  wishes.  A  rumour  passed  along 
the  benches  of  the  two  Houses  that  the  Pope  was  threatening 
to  excommunicate  every  one  who  supported  his  desire  for  a 
divorce.  Forthwith  this  threat  was  met  by  threats  in  return. 
A  letter  of  remonstrance  to  the  Pope  was  signed  by  the  primate 
and  archbishop,  dukes,  earls,  prelates,  barons,  abbots,  knights, 
and  commoners,  declaring  that  England  would  separate  from 
Rome  if  justice  were  not  done,  and  that  if  Rome  would  not  do 
it,  they  would  get  it  by  other  means.  Yet  the  result  seemed 
as  far  off  as  ever.  But  at  last  the  brain  was  found  which 
solved  the  difficulty — that  of  Thomas  Cromwell. 

This  man,  destined  to  affect  English  history  so  powerfully, 
was  of  a  good  English  stock — the  Cromwells  of  Lincolnshire. 
A  member  of  the  family — likely  a  younger  son — had  moved  up 
to  London,  and  conducted  an  iron-foundry,  or  other  business  of 
that  description,  at  Putney.^  He  married  the  sister  of  a  Derby- 
shire gentleman ;  but  on  his  death  she  remarried  a  cloth  mer- 
chant, and  Thomas,  the  child  of  the  first  marriage,  left  his  step- 
father's home  to  seek  his  fortune.  He  had  received  a  good 
education,  and  was  known  afterwards  as  a  man  of  learning,  but 
he  seems  to  have  fared  roughly  for  a  time  in  his  early  wander- 
ings. It  is  said  that  he  was  in  Italy  with  the  French  army ;  but 
he  returned  to  England  while  still  young;  married  a  wool- 
merchant's''  only  daughter  and  heiress,  became  a  partner,  and, 
as  his  will,  written  in  1529,  shows,  amassed  a  considerable  fortune. 

*  Froude,  i.  583.    »  Sir  John  Prior,  Knight 


172  Tfie  English  Reformation.  [ad.  issr. 

Some  chance  bringing  him  into  contact  with  Wolsey,  we  find 
him  in  1525  employed  by  him  to  visit  and  sequestrate  the  small 
monasteries  intended  to  furnish  an  endowment  for  the  cardinal's 
new  college,  and  he  continued  with  him  till  his  fall. 

His  character  has  of  course  been  bitterly  assailed  by  Roman- 
ists and  their  allies  the  Ritualists,  but  the  very  frankness 
with  which  he  depreciates  his  earlier  life,  speaking  of  himself, 
like  John  Bunyan,  as  a  "  ruffian,"  but  adding  that  "  by  learning 
without  book,"  that  is,  by  heart,  "the  New  Testament  of  Erasmus, 
in  Latin,  he  began  to  be  touched  and  called  to  better  under- 
standing." How  honestly  and  truly  he  served  Wolsey  shows 
the  nobility  of  his  nature  and  his  solid  worth.  He  went  with 
him  to  the  damp  unfurnished  house  at  Esher,  to  which  he 
had  been  ordered  to  betake  himself,  trying  to  soften  his 
troubles  as  best  he  might.  When  Parliament  met,  the  Lords 
had  passed  a  bill  of  impeachment  against  his  master  which 
threatened  his  life,  but  Cromwell,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Lower  House,  having  taken  counsel  with  him,  rode  off  from 
Esher  in  a  cheerless  November  night,  to  attend  in  his  place  in 
Parliament  on  his  behalf.  There  he  took  up  the  articles  of  the 
impeachment,  one  by  one,  and  answered  them,  riding  down  to 
Esher  in  the  evening  to  receive  instructions  for  the  next  day. 
Braving  alike  king,  government,  and  public  feeling,  his 
fidelity  knew  no  selfish  fear,  and  in  the  end  saved  Wolsey,  and 
even  got  him  many  comforts  which  he  had  hitherto  sorely 
wanted.  No  wonder  Cavendish  says  that  "  at  the  length  his 
honest  estimation  and  earnest  behaviour  in  his  master's  cause 
grew  so  in  every  man's  opinion,  that  he  was  reputed  the  most 
faithful  servant-  to  his  master  of  all  other,  wherein  he  was  of  all 
men  greatly  commended."^  Brought  into  constant  contact  with 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  President  of  the  Council,  in  the 
management  of  Wolsey's  case,  much  government  business  of 
various  kinds  was  put  in  his  hands,  and  his  management  of  it 

*  Cavendish,  i8o. 


A.D  I53I]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  173 

was  such  that  "  the  fame  of  his  honesty  and  wisdom  coming  to 
the  king,"  >  led  to  his  being  taken  into  his  service,  and  almost 
at  once  appointed  king's  secretary,  representing  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  House  of  Commons. 

To  Cromwell  is  to  be  attributed,  from  that  time  to  his  death, 
the  principles  embodied  in  the  public  policy,  ecclesiastical  and 
political.  His  fundamental  conception  of  government  was  that 
Church  and  State  were  only  different  aspects  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, and  that  there  should,  therefore,  be  only  one  source  of 
authority  and  law  for  both.  Like  Cranmer,  and  apparently  at 
one  time  even  Gardiner,  he  held  that  the  king,  like  the  Russian 
Czar  of  our  own  times,  united  in  his  person  the  supreme  eccle- 
siastical and  temporal  dignity,  and  that  he  might,  by  the 
authority  divinely  given  him,  make  a  priest  as  readily  as  a  lay 
official,  with  no  need  of  any  ordination  whatever.  A  bishop 
held  his  commission  only  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Crown,  and 
it  was  at  once  cancelled  when  the  sovereign  who  had  given  it 
died.  The  Church  was,  iu  fact,  only  a  department  of  the 
public  service,  maintained  to  discharge  the  religious  duties 
prescribed  by  the  State.  It  was  by  one  holding  such  views 
that  the  Church  of  England,  as  it  is  to-day,  was  called  into 
being. 

After  the  failure  of  the  attempt  to  settle  the  question  of  the 
divorce  at  the  Legate's  Court  in  London,  the  dispute  between 
Henry  and  the  Pope  grew,  month  by  month,  more  embittered. 
It  was  certain  that  the  king  would  never  give  way,  and  ever 
more  and  more  certain  that  terror  of  Charles  made  it  impossible 
that  the  Pope  could  act  freely.  The  head  of  Christendom  had 
become  merely  the  creature  of  the  emperor,  and  dared  not 
oppose  him.  Meanwhile  threats  were  not  wanting  on  both 
sides,  and  Henry,  on  his,  was  not  slow  at  once  to  prepare  for 
the  worst,  and  to  show  what  might  be  expected  if  his  demand 
were  refused. 

Cavendish,  199. 


174  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1531. 

Wolsey  had  fallen,  but  the  Church,  in  its  venerable  and 
gigantic  power,  might,  at  any  time,  turn  against  the  Government, 
or  even  against  the  throne,  and  overthrow  it.  The  opposition 
Henry  could  offer  to  the  arrogant  claim  of  the  Pope  to  summon 
him  and  Catherine  to  Rome  was  in  danger  of  being  paralyzed 
at  any  moment  if  the  Church  were  not  humbled.  But  this  was 
presently  done  most  effectually.  In  January,  1531,  six  weeks 
after  Wolsey's  death,  Convocation  was  informed  that  all  the 
clergy  had  become  liable  to  the  penalties  of  premunire  by 
having  made  use  of  Wolsey's  legatine  courts,  or  by  recognizing 
them,  and  had  forfeited  all  their  livings  and  goods  to  the  king. 
It  was  a  most  audacious  stroke,  and  had  no  foundation  in 
justice.  But  it  ser\'ed  a  good  end.  The  Pope  had  dared 
England ;  and  Wolsey's  fall  had  been  the  first  reply,  while  this 
was  the  second.  After  such  a  blow  the  Papal  party  could  less 
easily  dominate  the  crown  and  the  nation,  and  the  Church 
learned,  once  for  all,  what  the  whole  history  of  England  had 
vainly  striven  to  impress  on  it,  that  the  clergy  were  citizens, 
under  the  law,  like  others. 

But  this  was  only  another  step  in  the  advancing  revolution  ; 
a  third,  far  more  momentous  was  to  follow.  It  had  been  the 
view  of  the  New  Learning,  and  had  come  to  be  that  of  a 
large  party  in  the  nation,  that  the  true  solution  of  the  difficulties 
in  which  the  king  found  himself,  was,  that  he  should  assume  the 
supremacy  over  the  Church  in  England  which  had  hitherto 
been  held  by  the  Pope.  Except  by  Wolsey  and  Warham,  and 
perhaps  a  few  others,  it  was  thought  possible  for  the  National 
Church  thus  to  separate  itself  from  the  unity  of  the  Church 
Universal,  and  at  the  same  time  to  remain  "  Catholic,"  with  no 
innovation  or  change  of  doctrine.  It  was  fancied  that  faith  in 
the  Romanist  system  of  priest  and  sacrament  could  still  be 
maintained  apart  from  submission  to  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter ; 
the  clergy  ministering  as  the  direct  servants  of  the  State,  and 
responsible  to  it  alone.  This  was  the  English  theory,  handed 
down  from  William  Rufus,  the  second  Henry,  and  the  Edwards, 


A.D.  I53I  ]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  175 

for  it  lay  at  the  root  of  the  struggle  against  Papal  Supremacy 
that  had  marked  reign  after  reign. 

Henry  had,  doubtless,  seen  that  things  were  drifting  in  this 
direction,  and  had  cast  off  Wolsey,  partly,  it  is  probable,  because 
he  felt  that  he  could  not  be  of  use  in  the  altered  policy  into 
which  England  was  to  be  led.  He  was  as  able,  as  he  was  over- 
bearing and  self-willed.  Even  the  subtleness  of  the  schoolmen 
in  which  he  had  been  trained,  and  their  appeal  to  Aristotle  as 
their  great  master,  must  have  awakened  in  him,  as  it  had  done 
in  others,  a  sense  of  rivalry  to  popes  and  priests.  The  masters 
of  the  Roman  law  had  led  him  in  the  same  track  of  indepen- 
dent thought,  and  the  New  Learning,  however  undesignedly,  had 
set  up  reason  as  the  opponent  of  priestly  authority.  Above 
all,  the  Council  of  Constance  had  shaken  the  power  of  the 
papacy  to  the  foundation,  by  claiming  power  over  the  Popes, 
for  the  Church  assembled  in  such  a  conclave. 

Nor  were  examples  of  independence  wanting  even  in  the 
royalty  of  the  day.  The  Emperor  Maximilian  had  leaned  to  the 
new  order  of  things.  The  good  Elector  of  Saxony  openly 
supported  Luther  ;  Denmark  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  Rome 
in  1522  ;  and  Sweden,  un(^er  Gustavus  Vasa,  had  followed  in 
the  same  course  in  1526. 

Still,  to  a  mind  like  that  of  Henry,  blindly  devoted  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church,  separation  from  Rome  must  have 
seemed  most  momentous.  It  might  destroy  religious  faith, 
shake  the  foundations  of  society,  and  bring  in  an  anarchy  like 
that  which  had  reigned  so  recently  in  the  peasant  wars  of  the 
Continent. 

But  he  had  gone  too  far  to  draw  back,  and  having  found  in 

Cromwell  the  instrument  he  needed,  he  left  it  to  him  to  guide 

the  revolution,  careless  whether  he  could  outride  the  storm  or 

perish  in  his  task,  so  that  his  own  ends  were  gained.     An 

ardent  believer  in  the  old  English  theory,  Cromwell  had  told 

him,  soon  after  Wolsey's  fall,  that  the  only  escape  from  the 

difficulties  of  the  divorce-question  was  by  his  assuming,  himself, 
9 


1^6  The  English  Reformation.        [ad  1531-1532. 

the  supremacy  over  the  Church  instead  of  the  Pope,  and  deciding 
the  matter  in  his  own  Ecclesiastical  Court  in  England.  Henry- 
had  shrunk  from  so  bold  a  step,  at  the  time,  but  the  protracted 
delays  at  Rome,  and  the  hopelessness  of  any  settlement  from  the 
Pope  while  so  completely  in  the  power  of  the  Emperor,  drove 
him  at  last  to  adopt  it.  It  was,  therefore,  forthwith  demanded 
that  Convocation  should  formally  recognize  the  King's  supre- 
macy over  the  Church — and  the  demand  was  submitted  to 
with  the  verbal  qualification  that  it  was  conceded  only  so  far  as 
the  law  of  Christ  allowed.  It  depended  on  the  docility  of  the 
clergy  in  this  matter,  how  far  the  terrible  penalties  of  premunire 
should  be  enforced.  The  Southern  Convocation,  after  bitter 
opposition,  succumbed  on  the  nth  February,  and  passed  the 
hated  acknowledgment  in  silence — Warham  presiding  :  that  of 
York  yielded  on  May  4th,  Tunstal,  Bishop  of  Durham,  protes- 
ting. In  principle,  it  was  nothing  new  that  had  been  thus 
achieved,  but,  for  the  first  time,  the  Church  itself  had  been 
forced  to  accept,  by  a  formal  act,  what  England  had  always 
demanded  and  practically  enforced. 

As  the  reward  of  this  concession  a  compromise  for  their  pre- 
tended offences  was  granted  the  clergy.  The  province  of 
Canterbury  was  pardoned  on  paying  ;^ioo,ooo  to  the  king, 
and  that  of  York,  on  paying  ;^i 8,000 — each  sum  worth,  then, 
twelve  times  as  much.  The  king  had  filled  his  coffers,  and 
even  the  laity  were  pleased  to  see  the  Church  fleeced  at  last, 
after  its  centuries  of  extortion.  Only  the  peasantry,  whom  it 
had  bound  to  it  by  superstition  and  ignorance,  stood  faithful, 
and  they  could  render  no  help. 

Things  were  now  rapidly  coming  to  a  crisis.  In  January, 
1532,  an  envoy  was  once  more  sent  to  Rome  with  a  letter  from 
Henry  and  the  opinions  of  the  Universities  on  his  marriage. 
But  things  had  gone  too  far  in  England  to  make  concessions 
palatable  to  the  Court  of  Rome.  The  action  of  Henry  had  in 
effect  repudiated  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  for  if  he  claimed 
to  be  head  of  the  Church  in   England,  the  country  was  by 


A.a  1532]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  177 

that  act  separated  from  the  Papacy.  Nor  did  his  imperious 
defiance  of  the  Pope  end  even  here.  A  bill  was  brought 
forward  to  stop  the  payment  of  annates  to  Rome,  though  its 
taking  force  was  made  conditional  on  the  Pope's  bearing 
towards  the  King,  Convocation  itself  had  moved  first  in  this 
by  a  petition  to  Parliament  for  their  abolition — for  however  loyal 
in  doctrine  to  the  Pope,  their  loyalty  stopped  short  of  submitting 
to  taxation  for  his  benefit.  It  might  be  that  so  mercenary  a 
court  as  his  would  yield  to  such  a  threat.  But  he  was  powerless 
in  the  hands  of  Charles,  and  was  looking  to  him,  besides,  for  the 
restoration  of  Florence  to  his  family,  the  Medici,  and  dared  not 
affront  him  by  reflecting  on  his  aunt.  Unfortunately,  religious 
principle  cannot  be  recognized  as  any  ground  of  his  hesitation, 
for  it  is  of  Clement  that  Guicciardini,  a  contemporary — in  calling 
him  a  good  Pope,  adds  the  terrible  words — "  but  I  do  not  mean 
apostolic  goodness,  for  in  those  days  he  was  esteemed  a  good 
Pope  who  did  not  surpass  other  men  in  wickedness." 

The  answer  to  Heniy's  mission,  and  to  the  rough  attacks  on 
the  Church  which  had  been  intended  to  enforce  its  being 
favourable,  was  what  might  have  been  expected  :  a  fresh 
citation  of  the  king  and  queen  to  Rome.  To  this  there  could 
be  only  one  reply,  and  that  Henry  made  : — that  the  King  of 
England  could  not  submit  himself  to  any  foreign  jurisdiction. 

In  May,  1532,  therefore,  another  step  was  taken,  which  com- 
pleted the  ecclesiastical  revolution,  and  made  the  Church  of 
England  what  it  has  been  ever  since.  In  1529  the  Commons 
had  petitioned  Henry  to  take  from  Convocation  the  power  of 
making  laws  without  his  assent,  but  action  in  the  matter  had 
hitherto  been  stayed.  The  clergy  had  fiercely  resented  the 
attack  then  made  :  had  claimed  the  authority  of  Scripture  and 
the  Church  for  their  legislative  powers,  and  had  declared  that 
they  "  could  not  submit  the  execution  of  their  charge  and  duty, 
certainly  prescribed  by  God,"  to  the  king's  assent.  They  had 
even  told  the  Commons  that  the  canons  or  Church  laws  were 
made  by  the  authority  of  God  and  were  perfectly  agreeable  to 


1^8  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1532. 

His  will,  so  that  if  they  on  any  points  clashed  with  the  law  of 
the  land  it  was  fitting  that  that  law  should  be  changed  so  as  to 
bring  it  into  conformity  with  theirs.  So  far  is  it  from  being  the 
case,  as  some  have  asserted,  that  the  Church  anticipated  the 
State  in  submission  to  its  authority.  But  the  day  for  such 
lordly  airs  was  past.  "  Submission "  to  the  king  was  now 
demanded,  with  the  surrender  of  all  independent  power ;  the 
abandonment  of  the  canon  law  in  all  particulars  in  which  it 
differed  from  the  law  of  the  land ;  leaving  Convocation  itself 
to  exist,  henceforth,  only  as  an  ecclesiastical  phantom,  not  only, 
as  hitherto,  requiring  the  Royal  License  to  meet,  but  incapable 
of  framing  even  a  bye-law  for  the  most  vital  necessities  of 
morality  or  religion.  The  whole  government  of  the  Church 
was  transferred  to  the  Crown  and  Parliament ;  it  was  for  them 
to  enact  and  for  the  Church  to  obey.  Even  this  was  accepted  by 
the  terrified  clergy  ;  to  be  engrossed  in  an  act,  the  year  after. 

To  Henry  as  to  the  bulk  of  the  educated  Englishmen  of  his 
day  this  new  ecclesiastical  constitution  was  intended  to  leave 
the  doctrinal  system  of  the  Church  unaffected.  England  was 
to  remain  Romanist  or  "  Catholic,"  as  much  as  ever,  though  it 
had  separated  itself  from  the  unity  of  Christendom.  But  some 
even  then  saw  that  an  ecclesiastical  revolt  involved,  inevitably, 
much  more.  They  felt  that  the  principle  of  independence 
could  not  stop  at  external  organization  ;  that  union  with  the 
head  of  the  Roman  Church  was  essential  to  a  retention  of 
"  Catholic  "  doctrine,  since  schism  was  itself  a  deadly  sin.  Nor 
could  it  be  hoped  that  the  people  would  stand  still,  even  if  the 
clergy  wished  to  do  so,  or  that  they  would  tolerate  in  the  paid 
servants  of  the  State  the  arrogant  claims  of  the  priesthood  of 
the  past.  Anglicanism,  that  is  political  independence  of 
Rome,  with  doctrinal  subjection,  was  intended  by  Henry  and 
his  contemporaries  ;  but  under  Mary  it  broke  down  into  con- 
spicuous failure,  and  since  then  has  shown  itself  more  and 
more  an  anachronism  and  inconsistency  which  the  nation  will 
not  tolerate  when  it  obtrudes  itself  too  much  on  its  notice. 


A.D.  I533-I533]    England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  179 

Henry  intended  separation  only  from  the  Court,  not  from  the 
Church  of  Rome,  but  England  repudiated  both. 

Things  were  now  rapidly  coming  to  a  crisis.  There  was  no 
hope  of  Catherine  yielding,  and  as  little  of  the  Pope  fulfilling 
his  promise.  Henry  was  at  last  losing  patience,  and  he  now 
had  Cromwell  at  his  side.  While  the  clergy  were  writhing 
under  the  demand  to  annihilate  Convocation,  except  as  an  idle 
show,  he  had  written  to  Rome  that  the  oath  taken  by  the  bishops 
made  them  only  half  his  subjects,  and  the  Commons  echoing 
the  feeling,  had  declared  that  if  a  rupture  came,  and  bulls  were 
refused  for  the  consecration  of  bishops,  they  would  do  without 
them. 

In  July,  1 531,  Henry  had  finally  separated  from  Catherine, 
after  twenty  years  of  wedded  life,  for  the  last  seven  of  which, 
however,  they  had  had  separate  rooms ;  and  since  then  Anne 
Boleyn  had  been  openly  recognized  as  the  queen  elect.'  In 
September,  1532,  she  was  made  Marchioness  of  Pembroke,  with 
;^i,ooo  a  year  in  land,  and  in  October,  as  a  further  bravado  in 
defiance  of  the  Pope,  was  taken  over  with  the  king  to  meet 
Francis  at  Calais,  though  no  divorce  had  yet  taken  place.  She 
would  have  been  married  before  this  but  for  the  death  of 
Warham,  in  August,  and  the  delay  in  getting  a  successor.  It 
was  essential  to  obtain  the  necessary  bulls  from  Rome  before 
any  open  rupture,  and  they  were  therefore  at  once  sent  for,  in 
favour  of  Cranmer,  whom  the  king  had  chosen  to  the  high  office. 

But  the  marriage  was  precipitated,  after  all,  by  the  receipt  of 
a  bull  from  Rome  in  January,  1533,  ordering  Henry  in  the 
abruptest  way  to  dismiss  Anne  forthwith  from  the  court.  A 
haughty  spirit  like  his  could  ill  brook  such  a  crowning  insult, 
and  answered  it  by  at  once  being  privately  married  to  Anne  by 
Rowland  Lee,  one  of  his  chaplains.'  The  act  needed  secrecy 
till  the  bulls  for  the  archbishop's  consecration  were  received. 

•  Henry  had  for  some  time  back  required  her  to  live  at  Court. 
2  Burnet  gives  the  date  Nov.  14,  1532. 


i8o  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1533 

These  came  at  last,  in  the  beginning  of  March,  1533  ;  but 
before  their  arrival  the  ecclesiastical  revolution  had  become 
absolute  and  final.  In  February,  on  the  meeting  of  Parliament, 
the  great  step  was  taken  of  proclaiming  independence  of  Rome; 
as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  carrying  out  the  divorce  in  an 
English  court,  as  had  been  determined,  by  Cromwell's  counsel. 
The  action  of  Parliament,  essential  in  any  case  in  matters 
affecting  the  future  of  the  kingdom,  was  supremely  needful 
where  the  succession  to  the  throne  was  involved,  as  in  this 
question. 

An  Act  was  therefore  introduced  and  passed  in  February, 
1533,  declaring  that  "the  crown  of  England  was  imperial,  and 
the  nation  a  complete  body  in  itself,  with  full  power  to  do 
justice  in  all  causes,  spiritual  and  temporal."  Appeals  to  Rome 
"  had  been  found  fruitful  in  expense  and  annoyance,  and 
delay  and  miscarriage  of  justice."  It  was  therefore  enacted 
that  all  causes,  whether  they  concerned  the  king  or  any  of  his 
subjects,  were  in  future  to  be  settled  in  England,  notwithstand- 
ing any  inhibitions  or  appeals  to  Rome ;  and  any  one  procuring 
a  bull  hereafter  was  made  liable  to  the  penalties  of  the  Law  of 
Provisors. 

Thus  quietly  at  last  fell,  at  one  stroke,  the  mighty  fabric  of 
Papal  usurpation,  which  had  been  slowly  reared  through  cen- 
turies. With  the  supremacy  transferred  from  the  Pope  to  the 
King,  Convocation  stripped  of  all  power,  the  "first-fruits" 
refused,  and  all  appeals  forbidden,  there  remained  nothing  to 
Rome.  The  results  of  so  vast  a  change  could  not  develop 
themselves  at  once,  and  have  not,  indeed,  fully  shown  them- 
selves even  yet,  but  henceforth  England  entered  on  a  new  era 
of  ecclesiastical  and  religious,  and  even  of  political  life.  The 
hideous  incubus  of  priestly  rule  had  been  cast  off  for  ever. 
Henceforth,  liberty  of  thought  in  the  heart,  on  the  lips,  and 
through  the  press,  were  secured;  a  principle  so  grand  that 
generations  had  to  pass  away  before  its  full  meaning  could  be 
realized  even  by  those  most  firm  in  its  support. 


AJ>i533]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  l8l 

More  had  already  resigned  the  chancellorship  in  May,  fore- 
seeing the  rupture  with  the  Pope,  and  perhaps  shocked  at  the 
overthrow  of  Convocation ;  and  Cranmer,  who  had  just  come 
home  from  Germany  when  the  marriage  with  Anne  took  place, 
knew  nothing  of  it  for  a  fortnight  after.  A  prodigious  excite- 
ment filled  all  minds,  for  the  act  was  a  blank  defiance  of  the 
Pope,  and  a  final  rupture  with  Rome,  which  England,  for  a 
thousand  years,  had  been  led  to  regard  as  the  organic  centre  of 
Christendom.  Warham  had  died  in  August,  and  so  was  out  of 
the  coil  for  ever. 

Thus,  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  Henry  had  at  last  broken  with 
Rome,  which  not  long  before  he  had  seemed  the  least  likely  of 
men  to  have  left.  But  the  conflict  of  Papal  claims  with  his 
overgrown  will,  with  his  kingly  instincts,  and  with  the  rights  of 
the  nation  to  manage  its  own  affairs,  had  fortunately  driven  him 
to  assert  the  national  independence.  Anne  was  already  thirty-two. 

One  great  object  of  the  Statute  of  Appeals  had  doubtless 
been  to  neutralize  the  appeal  of  Catherine,  and  thus  establish 
the  competency  of  an  English  court  to  judge  and  settle  the 
whole  case ;  but  it  still  remained  necessary  to  annul  the  old 
marriage  by  a  formal  process,  and  for  this  an  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  was  needed.  A  message  had  been  sent  to  Germany, 
months  before,  that  Cranmer  should  forthwith  return  and 
accept  the  dignity,  but  it  found  him  sincerely  unwilling, 
contact  with  the  Continental  Protestants  having  made  him  a 
Reformer  in  doctrine,  as  well  as  in  Church  politics ;  and  he 
knew  that  Henry  was  still  a  bigoted  Romanist.  To  take  oflice 
over  the  Church,  under  such  a  king,  was  perilous  to  the  utter- 
most. To  use  Fuller's  words,  Henry,  as  his  character  had 
developed  latterly,  seemed  to  combine  the  virtues  and  vices  of 
all  his  predecessors  from  the  Conquest — learning,  wisdom, 
valour,  magnificence  ;  cruelty,  avarice,  fury,  and  lust.'  Wolsey 
had  changed  the  government  into  one  of  personal  rule,  and 

*  Fuller's  Church  History,  iL  9. 


1 82  The  English  Reformation.  [ad  1533, 

unbridled  power  had  created  a  hideous  self-will  which  de- 
manded indulgence  to  its  most  lawless  caprices,  and  knew  no 
human  pity  if  anything  stood  in  its  way. 

It  was  as  dangerous  to  refuse  as  to  accept  honours  from 
such  a  master,  and  Cranmer  had  therefore  returned  slowly  from 
Germany,  where  he  had  married  a  second  time.  Parliament 
had  met  in  February,  and,  at  the  king's  dictation  or  by  his  per- 
mission, had  passed  an  Act  against  all  appeals  to  Rome — 
urging  their  cost,  delay,  and  thousand  difficulties  in  citing  wit- 
nesses, and  personally  attending  at  such  a  distance.  In  the  end 
of  January  the  king  had  sent  to  Rome  for  bulls  to  consecrate 
Cranmer,  although  an  Act  had  been  passed  against  doing  so, 
and  in  due  time  eleven  were  received — the  last  that  came  to 
England  under  Henry. 

But  Cranmer  was  ill  at  ease  in  his  new  position.  Warham 
had  made  a  protest  in  private  before  his  consecration,'  and  he 
resolved  to  show  his  uprightness  by  insisting  on  making  one  in 
public  before  allowing  himself  to  be  consecrated,'*  declaring  that 
he  only  took  the  old  oaths  in  a  limited  sense.  The  docu- 
ment was  read  not.  only  in  the  chapter-house,  before  witnesses, 
but  at  the  high  altar,  on  his  consecration,  and  again  at  the  same 
place  when  he  received  the  pall — a  scarf  sent  by  the  Pope  to 
archbishops.  "  It  is  not,"  said  he,  "  either  now  or  hereafter, 
my  will  or  intention  by  any  oath,  however  the  words  may  read, 
to  bind  myself  to  anything  which  may  be,  or  may  seem  to  be, 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  or  to  the  king,  his  kingdom,  or 
prerogative,  and  I  do  not  intend  by  this  oath  to  bind  myself  in 
any  way  to  speak,  consult,  or  agree  less  freely  than  I  otherwise 
would  as  regards  the  reformation  of  the  Christian  religion,  or 
the  government  of  the  English  Church,  or  the  prerogative  of 
the  Crown,  or  to  bar  myself  from  reforming  in  everything  what 
may  seem  to  me  to  need  reform  in  the  Church  of  England."  A 
right  manly  act,  under  such  a  master  and  at  such  a  time ! 

*  Le  Bas,  Cranmer,  i.  57.  *  March  30,  1533. 


A.D.  1533-]         England  declared  Free  from  Rome.  183 

Convocation  was  once  more  summoned,  in  April,  1533,  to 
give  its  vote  on  the  divorce,  and,  of  course,  decided  for  the 
king.  It  might  have  done  so  honestly  enough,  but  the  future 
was  to  show  that  it  only  gave  a  forced  opinion.  Yet  it  was 
hard  to  argue  with  a  king  who  had  the  hangman  in  the  back- 
ground for  any  disobedience  of  his  orders.  The  ground  being 
thus  in  every  way  cleared,  the  last  act  in  the  tragedy  closed  in 
May.  Convocation  having  solemnly  voted  at  their  sitting  in 
April  that  the  marriage  with  Catherine  was  invalid,  Cranmer, 
with  Stokesley,  Bishop  of  London,  Gardiner,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, Longland,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  a  number  of  other 
prelates,  held  a  court  at  Dunstable,  within  five  miles  of  Cathe- 
rine's house  at  Ampthill,  and  having  duly  summoned  her,  once 
and  again,  without  reply,  adjudged  her  contumacious,  and  pro- 
nounced* her  marriage  with  the  king  as  null  and  unlawful  by 
Scripture.  Reconciliation  with  Rome  was  henceforth  impos- 
sible. A  personal  incident,  by  involving  a  principle,  had  freed 
England  from  it  for  ever. 

But,  although  privately  married  to  his  new  wife  in  the  close 
of  1532,  the  interests  at  stake  on  the  due  publicity  of  the  fact 
were  too  great  to  let  Henry  rest  satisfied  with  that  ceremony. 
The  marriage  was  therefore  repeated  in  public,  on  the  1 2th  of 
April,  and  six  weeks  later  the  poor  victim  fancied  that  her 
fortune  had  reached  an  abiding  splendour,  for  on  the  28th  May 
Cranmer  confirmed  her  marriage  by  a  judicial  sentence,  and  on 
the  29th  her  coronation  was  heralded  by  gorgeous  pageants  and 
rejoicings,  which  culminated  on  the  fourth  day,  Whit  Sunday,  in 
her  wearing  the  crown  as  Queen  of  England.  Well  for  her 
that  she  could  not  see  through  the  mists  of  the  next  three  years, 
with  the  headsman  and  his  axe  closing  the  perspective  I 

Meanwhile,  the  news  of  the  divorce  of  Catherine  and  the 
marriage  with  Anne  produced  the  fiercest  indignation  at  Rome, 
and  this  was  even  heightened  by  Henry  and  Cranmer  forwarding 

1  May  23,  1533. 


184  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1533. 

two  separate  documents  to  the  Pope,  declining  to  own  his 
authority,  and  appealing  from  him  to  a  General  Council — of  all 
things  the  most  hateful  to  the  Papal  mind.  Sentence  was 
forthwith  pronounced  by  Clement,  in  conclave,  denouncing  ex- 
communication with  all  its  terrors  against  Henry  if  he  did  not 
revoke  and  cancel  all  that  he  had  done,  and  declaring  the 
divorce  utterly  ineffectual  and  void. 

Strange  to  say,  after  all  that  had  happened,  Henry  was  pre- 
vailed upon  by  the  French  king  to  offer  once  more  to  leave  his 
whole  cause  to  the  decision  of  the  Roman  consistory,  and  a 
courier  was  sent  off  with  his  formal  submission,  as  if  the  di- 
vorce and  the  second  marriage  might  yet  possibly  be  recalled  ! 
But  the  fierceness  of  the  extreme  party  at  Rome  defeated  this 
last  chance  of  the  Pope's  retaining  England.  The  messenger 
had  not  arrived  by  the  time  they  deemed  sufficient  for  his 
journey,  and  they  hurried  through  the  consistory  a  resolution  to 
publish  the  excommunication  at  once.  Two  days  after  the 
courier  arrived,  but  it  was  now  too  late.  The  partizans  of  the 
Emperor  would  not  permit  the  revocation  of  the  sentence,  and 
the  rupture  with  England  was  left  irreparable. 

Henry's  courier  had  been  delayed  by  contrary  winds,  but,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  it  was  to  such  an  apparent  accident 
that  England  was  for  ever  freed  from  the  rule  of  the  priest ! 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  FIRST  MARTYRS. 

THE  flames  of  the  Pope's  bull  at  Wittenberg,  in  1520, 
which  were  the  signal-fire  of  the  Reformation,  were  no 
less  a  fierce  alarm  to  all  interested  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
established  religious  system. 

English  LoUardism,  or  Protestantism,  had  been  driven  into 
hiding  in  the  last  century,  but  it  had  never  been  rooted  out, 
and  now  sprang  up  again  with  a  persistency  and  increasing 
vigour  which  excited  the  bishops  to  the  utmost.  Preachers  of 
the  new  doctrines — new  in  that  age,  but  old  as  the  New  Testa- 
ment— secretly  spread  them  among  the  lower  classes,  who, 
having  nothing  to  lose,  and  being  more  open,  in  their  humble 
simplicity,  to  learn,  are  always  foremost  in  great  religious 
movements.  Books  of  Wycliffe  were  passed,  with  cautious  out- 
look, from  hand  to  hand.  But  if  the  Gospellers  were  active,  so 
were  their  enemies.  In  spite  of  the  shame  connected  with 
the  murder  of  Hunne,  a  great  many  were  cited  before  the 
bishops  between  151 7  and  1520.  In  15 18  two  men  were 
burned  in  London,  one  for  having  some  books  of  Wycliffe's ; 
the  other,  who  had  already  been  before  the  bishop  for  having 
left  a  monastery  to  which  he  had  been  sent,  was  charged  with 
having  taken  off  the  heretic^s  badge  of  a  faggot,  on  his  coat. 
His  story  was  that  doubtless  of  many.  He  had  been  one  of  the 
secret  teachers  of  the  Reformers    and  had  lived,  at  different 


1 86  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1518. 

times,  in  various  places,  in  furtherance  of  his  godly  work.  At 
Newbury,  in  Berkshire,  he  had  been  minister  in  a  lowly  congre- 
gation, who  for  fifteen  years  had  worshipped  safely  in  secret, 
like  the  first  Christians  among  the  heathen.  Being  at  last  be- 
trayed, however,  several  of  their  number  were  burned,  and  the 
rest  cruelly  punished.  Escaping  from  this  place,  their  minister 
had  passed  to  Amersham,  in  Bucks,  and  taught  a  secret  con- 
gregation there,  till  it,  also,  was  dispersed.  Still  faithful,  he 
was  at  last  caught,  and  received  his  martyr's  crown  at  Smith- 
field.  "  He  confesses,"  says  the  bishop's  register,  "  that  he  and 
and  his  wife  have  turned  six  or  seven  hundred  people  to  those 
opinions.'"  What  those  opinions  were  the  same  authority  in- 
forms us.  "  He  affirmed  that  the  very  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  were  not  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  but  material 
bread  and  wine,  and  that  he  had  received  it  at  Easter  as  holy 
bread  ;  that  the  crucifix  and  other  images  were  not  to  be  wor- 
shipped ;  that  confession  to  a  priest  was  of  no  effect ;  that  the 
true  Church  was  holy  men ;"  and  more  to  the  same  effect.  It 
was  for  such  "  heresy  "  as  this  that  the  "  English  Catholic  " 
Church  burned  God's  saints,  and  this  is  the  Church  which 
the  Ritualists  would  bring  back  on  us.  Buckingham  and 
Berks  each  saw  a  man  burned  in  1518,  but  the  bloodiest  Auto 
da  Fe  was  at  Coventry.  Six  men  and  a  widow  woman  were 
burned  there  in  one  great  sacrifice  to  "  Anglo- Catholicism  " — 
the  men,  shoemakers,  glovers,  and  the  like — the  crime  of  all 
being,  that  they  had  taught  their  children  and  servants  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten  Commandments  in 
English.'' 

*  Articles  against  Mann,  quoted  from  the  Registers,  by  Foxe,  iv.  211. 
Foxe,  iv.  557.  I  add  the  following  testimony  to  Foxe's  exactness 
and  veracity,  in  addition  to  that  of  Bishop  Burnet,  already  given.  "  All 
the  many  researches  and  discoveries  of  later  times,  in  regard  to  historical 
documents,  have  only  contributed  to  place  the  general  fidelity  and 
truth  of  Foxe's  melancholy  narrative,  on  a  rock  which  cannot  be  shaken." 
—Preface  to  Wordsworth's  Eccles.  Biography.  His  triumphant  vindication 


A.D.  I52I.]  The  First  Martyrs.  187 

The  wide  spread  of  the  simple  doctrines  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment among  the  common  people  in  these  years,  at  least  in  some 
parts  of  England,  is  strikingly  shown  in  the  registers  of  Bishop 
Longland,  of  Lincoln,  in  152 1.  In  his  one  diocese  he  managed 
to  hunt  up,  in  the  year,  nearly  five  hundred  Gospellers,  whom 
he  worried  in  every  way,  as  a  warning  to  others.  Prisoners 
were  forced,  on  oath,  to  denounce  their  parents  and  house- 
holds, their  neighbours  and  friends,  imder  penalty  of  they  knew 
not  what.  The  crimes  imputed  to  them,  were,  in  the  main, 
that  they  did  not  believe  in  pilgrimages  to  shrines ;  that  they 
objected  to  the  adoration  of  the  Virgin  and  other  saints ;  that 
they  refused  to  believe  in  the  real  presence  of  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  Christ  in  the  wafer ;  and  that  they  would  not  give  up 
the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  or  such  fragments  of  them  as 
they  had,  in  EngUsh.  For  this,  hundreds  of  English  men  and 
women  were  treated  like  the  worst  felons,  and  suffered  more 
than  a  felon's  punishment.  For  teaching  a  child  the  eight 
Beatitudes ;  for  having  read  the  Scriptures  to  a  neighbour ;  for 
knowing  the  Ten  Commandments;  for  repeating  the  words, 
"  Blessed  be  they  that  hear  the  Word  of  God  and  keep  it ;"  for 
saying,  "  What  need  is  there  to  go  to  the  feet,  when  we  may 
go  to  the  Head  ? "  for  carrying  a  godly  book  from  one  man  to 
another;  for  "  reading  all  night  in  a  book  of  Scripture;"  for 
tasting  food  on  a  fast-day;  for  saying  that  "true  pilgrimage  was 
to  go  barefoot  and  visit  the  poor,  weak,  and  sick ; "  for  buying 
an  English  Bible ;  for  having  been  seen  with  "  known-men ; " 
for  even  so  little  as  repeating  the  "  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  in 
Paradise,"  out  of  the  hated  Wycliffe  Bible,  men  and  women  of 
blameless  life  were  torn  in  numbers  from  their  households  and 
callings,  and  forced,  even  if  they  recanted,  to  wear  the  faggot- 

from  the  slander  of  the  enemies  of  Protestantism,  has  lately  received  still 
further  completeness  in  the  Introduction,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stoughton,  to 
the  noble  eJition  of  "  The  Acts  and  Monuments,"  published  by  the  Reli- 
gious Tract  Society  in  eight  volumes. 


1 88  The  English  Reformation.         [ad.  1521-1523- 

badge  on  their  clothes  for  life,  or  to  suffer  the  fire  if  they  stood 
firm.  And  this  is  the  Church  our  "  conspirators  "  wish  to 
revive ! 

It  was  no  light  matter,  indeed,  to  live  in  the  diocese  of 
Lincoln  in  those  days,  for  Longland  even  got  the  king  himself, 
in  1521,  the  year  of  the  royal  answer  to  Luther,  to  require  "all 
mayors,  sheriffs,  bailiffs,  and  constables,  as  they  tender  his  high 
displeasure,  to  aid,  help,  and  assist  the  said  Right  Reverend 
Father  in  God,  in  hunting  down  the  heretics  in  his  diocese, 
of  whom  there  is  "  no  small  number."  The  punishments 
accorded  them  when  caught,  even  though  they  recanted,  were 
to  go  thrice  round  the  market  on  market  day,  and  stand  on  the 
highest  step  of  the  cross  there,  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  with  a 
faggot  of  wood  on  their  shoulder ;  to  go,  in  the  same  way,  in  a 
procession  on  Sunday;  to  bear  a  faggot  at  the  burning  of  a 
heretic ;  to  be  branded  with  a  red-hot  iron  on  the  cheek,  and 
never,  in  any  way,  to  hide  the  mark ;  with  much  besides,  as 
the  temper  of  the  bishop  or  his  chancellor  at  the  moment 
decreed.  All  this,  and  more,  is  entered  by  Longland  as  the 
penance  to  be  undergone  by  even  the  lightest  offenders ;  and 
any  failure  to  carry  it  out  was  to  be  counted  a  relapse, 
to  be  expiated  by  death  at  the  stake.  ^ 

The  year  1525  was  famous  in  the  history  of  the  Reformation, 
by  the  outbreak  of  the  terrible  Peasant's  War  in  Germany,  in 
which  a  hundred  thousand  of  the  unhappy  serfs  were  slain. 
Serfdom  had  passed  away  in  England,  thanks  to  the  revolts  of 
Wat  Tyler  and  Jack  Cade,  which  had  been  mainly  fierce  pro- 
tests against  it,  and  to  the  scarcity  of  labour  through  the 
slaughters  of  the  long  civil  wars.  But  in  Germany  it  continued 
in  all  its  bitterness,  without  even  the  check  of  fixed  rules  of 
privilege  on  the  part  of  the  masters.  Insurrection  after  insur- 
rection had  already  been  made  against  it.  Switzerland  had 
gained  its  freedom  by  the  battle  of  Morgarten,  in  13 15.     The 

*  Quoted  from  Longland's  Register  for  1521,  fol.  90— by  Foxe. 


A-D.  I52S-]  The  First  Martyrs.  189 

peasants  of  the  Rhaetian  Alps  had  won  theirs  by  a  long  struggle 
from  1424  to  1471.  From  1492  to  1501  the  peasants  on  Lake 
Constance  had  maintained  an  ineffectual  struggle  against  their 
feudal  lord.  Elsass  had  been  wasted  from  1493  to  1502  by 
similar  attempts.  In  Carinthia  there  had  been  fierce  war  between 
lord  and  vassal  from  1503  to  15 14,  and  in  1512  and  1513  the 
Black  Forest  and  Wurtemburg  had  seen  castles  blazing,  and 
wild  revolt  for  freedom.  But,  except  in  Switzerland  and  the 
Graubund,  the  privileged  class  had  quenched  all  these  risings 
in  the  blood  of  the  peasants. 

In  1524,  however,  the  down-trodden  peasantry  were  once 
more  in  revolt,  and  in  1525  their  brethren  from  the  Vosges  to 
Carinthia,  and  from  Thuringia  to  Switzerland,  joined  in  the 
struggle.  Unfortunately  the  religious  fervour  of  the  times  only 
too  naturally  coloured  the  demands  of  the  oppressed  multitudes. 
Fanatics  associated  them  with  extravagant  distortions  of  the 
teaching  of  Luther,  and  with  much  else  drawn  from  a  misuse 
of  Scripture  by  their  own  heated  fancies.  Excesses  on  the  side 
of  the  peasants  were  unjustly  ascribed  to  the  New  Opinions,  and 
the  safety  of  society  was  declared  to  be  bound  up  with  the 
maintenance  of  the  Romish  Church.  The  frightful  mas- 
sacres of  the  unhappy  countrymen  were  proclaimed  a  political 
necessity. 

News  of  this  terrible  state  of  things  spread  forthwith  into 
England,  and  roused  a  fiercer  spirit  than  ever  against  all 
"  heresy."  It  seemed,  indeed,  to  justify  all  the  violence  of  the 
past,  and  to  call  for  even  greater.  "  The  fear  of  outrages  and 
mischiefs  to  follow  upon  such  heresies,"  says  Sir  Thomas  More, 
"  with  the  proof  that  men  have  had  in  some  countries  thereof, 
have  been  the  cause  that  princes  and  people  have  been  con- 
strained to  punish  heresies  by  a  terrible  death ;  whereas,  else, 
more  easy  ways  had  been  taken  with  them."* 

This  very  year,  1525,  by  a  strange  coincidence,  witnessed  a 

^  Dialogues,  Book  iv.  c.  8. 


IQO  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1524. 

notable  progress  in  the  New  Opinions  in  England,  which  at 
once  roused  the  wildest  alarm  among  the  bishops,  and  drew 
down  on  the  unhappy  Reformers  the  bitter  enmity  of  the  civil 
government  as  well.  Till  now  the  growing  numbers  of  Reformers 
had  been  without  a  common  organization,  but  in  this  year  a 
number  of  persons,  mostly  in  humble  position,  with  a  few  of 
the  clergy,  banded  themselves  together  as  "  The  Christian 
Brethren,"  for  the  spread  of  Scriptural  truth.  The  preaching, 
which  had  already  been  so  wide,  in  secret,  especially  in  the 
counties  round  London,  was  henceforth  arranged  systematically, 
and  an  extensive  secret  agency  was  set  on  foot  for  the  dissemi- 
nation of  religious  publications.  A  year  before  (1524),  Latimer 
— hereafter  to  be  the  great  popular  preacher  of  the  Reforma- 
tion— had  been  won  over  to  the  good  cause  by  Bilney,  at 
Cambridge;  and,  in  1523,  Tyndale,  whose  monument  is  the 
Reformation,  had  come  to  London,  intent  on  translating  the 
New  Testament  into  English.  Tunstal  had  become  Bishop  of 
London  in  that  year — a  kindly,  worldly  man,  disinclined  to 
severe  measures  against  the  Reformers,  but  keen  enough  against 
their  books  and  doctrines ;  thoroughly  loyal  to  things  as  they 
were,  but,  within  the  limits  of  a  strict  conservatism,  a  patron  of 
the  New  Learning.  In  him  Tyndale  hoped  to  find  a  friend  to 
his  undertaking.  Tunstal  was,  to  use  Sir  Thomas  More's 
words,  "  a  man  doubtless  out  of  comparison "  as  a  scholar ; 
of  courtly  manners,  fitted  to  grace  society,  but,  like  his 
brethren,  he  had  no  sympathy  with  making  the  New  Testament 
a  book  for  the  people.  Tyndale,  a  simple,  unassuming  poor 
priest,  found  no  favour  at  his  hands,  and  scant  civility ;  but  an 
alderman,  who  heard  him  preach,  made  him  his  guest.  With 
him  "  he  lived,"  says  Monmouth,  his  new  friend,  "  like  a  good 
priest.  He  studied  most  of  the  day  and  of  the  night,  at  his 
book,  and  wished  nothing  better  than  boiled  meat  and  small 
single  beer.  Nor  would  he  spend  money  on  linen,  but  con- 
tented himself  with  woollen  dress,"  as  cheaper. 

A  year  later,  in  1524,  Tyndale  left  London  for  Germany, 


AD.  1S26.]  The  First  Martyrs.  191 

Monmouth  having  given  him  ten  pounds,  and  even  his  enemies 
bearing  witness  that  "  he  was  well  known  for  a  man  of  right 
good  living,  studious,  and  well-learned  in  Scripture,  and  looked 
and  preached  holily."^  Two  years  later  the  fruits  of  his  dili- 
gence made  their  appearance  in  England,  in  the  shape  of  his 
English  New  Testament,  which  is,  substantially,  that  still  in 
use.  "  The  peculiar  genius — if  such  a  word  be  permitted — 
which  breathes  through  it,"  says  Mr.  Froude,  "the  mingled 
tenderness  and  majesty,  the  Saxon  simplicity,  the  preternatural 
grandeur,  unequalled,  unapproached  in  the  attempted  improve- 
ments of  modern  scholars,  all  are  here,  and  bear  the  impress  of 
the  mind  of  one  man — William  Tyndale."^ 

Things  had  come  to  a  head  in  England  before  Tyndale's 
New  Testament  appeared.  Fish's  "  Supplication  of  the  Beggars," 
a  terrible  attack  on  the  monks  and  friars,  of  which  more  here- 
after, had  been  scattered  in  the  London  streets,  and  had  even 
been  sent  to  Henry  and  read  by  him.  Latimer  had  been  ordered 
by  the  Bishop  of  Ely  not  to  preach  in  his  diocese,  which  included 
Cambridge.  Bilney  was  under  suspicion  of  heresy,  anjl  an 
indiscreet  friend.  Prior  Barnes,  an  Augustine  Friar,  had  precipi- 
tated an  open  rupture  with  the  authorities,  by  a  violent  sermon. 
Latimer,  Bilney,  and  he,  had,  as  the  result,  been  summoned-  to 
London,  where  Barnes  was  first  put  on  his  trial,  and  the  bitter 
alternative  offered  him  of  "  reading  a  recantation  or  being 
burned."  Firmly  refusing  for  a  time,  he  at  last  yielded,  and 
had  a  penance  prescribed  which  made  a  great  sensation  at  the 
time. 

Tyndale's  Testament  had  already  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  authorities,  for  letters  of  warning  had  been  sent  from  the 
Continent  respecting  it ;  but,  though  three  thousand  had  been 
printed  and  smuggled  into  England,  they  passed  from-  hand  to 
hand  so  secretly,  that  for  months,  the  Bishops  could  not  find 
out  the  agency  which  circulated  or  introduced  them. 

*  Sir  Thoiras  More.  •  Froudc's  England,  iii  84. 


ig2  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  15^6. 

In  the  spring  of  1526,  none  of  them  had  as  yet  reached 
England,  but  the  poHce  had  already  collected  large  numbers  of 
Lutheran  books  which  they  had  seized,  in  obedience  to  Wolsey's 
command,  issued  as  early  as  152 1,  and  these  were  now  to  be 
used  at  Barnes's  penance.  The  day  having  arrived  for  it,  all 
London  was  in  a  ferment,  for  the  great  city  was  the  very  hot- 
bed of  the  Reformation.  Old  St.  Paul's,  though  two  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  longer  than  the  present  building^ — that  is  about 
half  as  long  again  as  York  Minster,  was  so  full,  by  the  hour 
appointed,  "  that  no  man  could  get  in."  Cardinal  Wolsey  sat 
on  a  platform  above  the  altar  steps,  with  thirty-six  abbots,  friars, 
and  bishops — he  in  purple,  they  in  damask  and  satin,  all  mitred. 
Huge  baskets  of  the  prohibited  books  that  had  been  seized 
stood  within  the  altar  rails  on  the  platform.  Fisher,  the  bishop 
of  Rochester,  now  sixty-seven  years  old,  presently  entered  a 
pulpit  raised  on  it,  and  preached  earnestly  against  Luther  and 
Dr.  Barnes,  but  the  people  made  so  much  disturbance  that 
nothing  could  be  heard.  Sermon  ended,  in  dumb  show,  Barnes 
and  four  others  who  had  been  brought  in  with  him,  had  to 
kneel  down,  and  ask  forgiveness  of  God,  of  the  Church,  and 
of  the  Cardinal,  and  to  declare  that  they  were  more  charitably 
handled  than  their  detestable  heresies  deserved.  Barnes  utterly 
humbled  for  the  time,  went  through  all  this  mockery,  and  then 
Wolsey  departed  "  with  all  his  mitred  men  with  him." 

A  great  fire  having  meanwhile  been  kindled  before  a  huge 
crucifix  which  hung  over  the  north  door  of  the  Cathedral, 
Barnes  and  his  companions  were  now  led  thrice  round  the 
blazing  pile,  as  a  warning  of  what  they  might  expect  if  they 
relapsed ;  but,  for  this  time,  the  books  were  burned  instead 
of  themselves.  Absolution  was  then  granted  them,  and  they 
were  received  back  into  communion  with  the  Church. 


^  John  Henry  Blunt's  Reformation,  83.  He  misplaces  the  incident  by 
five  years,  putting  it  in  1521,  His  book  belongs  to  the  "Popery  without 
the  Pope"  School.  It  must  not  be  confounded  with  J.  J.  Blunt's  Sketch 
of  the  Reformation. 


AD.  1527.]  The  First  Martyrs.  193 

A  few  months  later,  Latimer  and  Bilney  were  at  last  sum- 
moned before  Wolsey,  but  Latimer  bore  himself  with  so  much 
shrewdness  that  instead  of  a  penance  he  received  the  Cardinal's 
license  to  preach  anywhere  in  England.^  Bilney,  however, 
less  dexterous,  did  not  escape  so  easily.  Thrown  off  his 
wonted  self-reliance  by  Barnes's  sad  example,  then  so  recent,  he 
promised  "  not  to  preach  any  of  Luther's  opinions,  but  to 
impugn  them  everywhere."  That  he  yielded  thus  was  to  be 
deplored,  but  men  do  not  at  once  rise  superior  to  human  weak- 
ness in  their  self-sacrifice  for  opinions,  and  it  is  only  by  degrees 
that  the  martyr's  stake  loses  its  terrors. 

The  New  Testament  in  English  was  now  abroad  among  the 
people.  The  bishops  had  done  their  utmost  to  prevent  its  im- 
portation. Attempts  had  been  made  through  the  English 
ambassador,  to  punish  the  printer,  but  nothing  could  be  done 
beyond  seizing  three  hundred  copies  ;  the  rest  finding  their 
way  to  London.  Violence  having  failed,  the  notable  folly  was 
hit  upon  of  trying  to  buy  up  all  the  copies  in  Antwerp  and 
elsewhere,  to  stop  their  reaching  England.  Warham  spent 
seventy  pounds — equal  to  over  eight  hundred  now — on  this 
bright  stroke  of  finance,  the  only  result  of  which  was  that  he 
got  about  1,000  Testaments,  and  gave  the  printers  the  means 
of  preparing  a  revised  edition.  Tyndale  had  printed  6,000  at 
Worms,  and  an  Antwerp  edition  of  2,000  had  been  issued,  so 
that  7,000  remained  for  the  English  market,  and  a  still  further 
supply  very  soon  followed.  Nor  was  it  difficult  to  sell  all  that 
might  come.  "  Englishmen,"  says  a  writer  of  the  time,  "  are 
so  eager  for  the  gospel  as  to  affirm  that  they  would  buy  a  New 
Testament,  even  if  they  had  to  give  a  hundred  thousand  pieces 
of  money  for  it." 

The  first  hint  of  the  agency  which  was  filling  the  country 
with  the  Scriptures  seems  to  have  been  discovered  by  the  bishops 
through  Bilney's  second  trial,  which  we  shall  have  to  notice,  in 

^  Latimer's  Remains,  page  xxv. 


194  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1528. 

the  close  of  1527,  when  the  hated  books  had  been  circulating 
nearly  eighteen  months.  Unseen  hands  were  spreading  them 
in  every  direction  in  spite  of  sheriff  and  priests.  At  last,  in 
the  spring  of  1528,  Tunstal  succeeded  through  his  spies  and 
informers,  in  ferreting  out  the  organization  that  had  troubled 
him  and  his  brethren  so  much.  To  the  horror  of  the  Bench  it 
appeared  that  Lincoln  was  not  the  only  diocese  infected  with 
heresy;  the  leaven  had  spread  through  the  whole  south  of 
England.  London  swarmed  with  Reformers  :  Essex  seemed  to 
have  gone  bodily  over  to  them  :  everywhere  members  of  the 
"  Christian  Brothers,"  tradesmen,  peasants,  farmers,  and  even 
priests,  were  zealously  circulating  Tyndale's  Testament,  and 
Lutheran  books.  Upwards  of  350  had  been  introduced  into 
Oxford  by  a  single  agent,  and  they  were  offered  for  sale  by 
hundreds,  with  little  concealment,  in  London  itself.  The 
bishops  at  once  set  on  foot  a  vigorous  inquisition,  to  detect 
the  offenders.  Tunstal  especially  exerted  himself,  and  erelong 
his  informers  were  able  to  report  that  they  had  brought  to  Hght 
the  wide  ramifications  of  "  the  brethren,"  in  Essex,  and  other 
shires  round  London.  Crowds  of  simple  country  people,  guilty 
of  no  crime  but  having  the  New  Testament  in  their  own 
language  in  their  possession,  or  of  having  listened  to  its  being 
read  by  others,  were  dragged  to  prison  or  summoned  before 
the  bishops'  court,  and  forced  to  abjure,  by  threats  of  the  dun- 
geon, the  rack,  or  the  stake.  The  merchants  who  had  aided 
in  bringing  it  from  the  Continent  were  thrown  into  prison,  or 
had  to  flee. 

Panic  struck,  the  Reformers  still  at  large,  butchers,  tailors, 
and  carpenters,  who  felt  themselves  suspected,  strove  to  escape 
in  the  holds  of  vessels,  or  in  disguise,  anywhere  out  of  England. 
But  even  on  the  Continent  they  were  not  safe,  for  heretics  were 
treated  by  all  Governments  as  outlaws,  so  that  even  in  France 
or  Belgium  they  had  to  watch  against  English  emissaries  sent 
over  to  arrest  them. 

To  the  consternation  of  the  bishops,  however,  it  soon  began 


A.D.  i52S -I537-]  The  First  Martyrs.  195 

to  be  whispered  that  heresy  was  no  longer  confined  to  the 
common  people,  but  had  showed  itself  in  the  university  of  Oxford 
— the  nursery  of  the  clergy.  Like  Cambridge,  it  was  a  very 
different  place  from  what  it  had  been  before  the  revival  of 
letters.  "The  students,"  says  an  eye-witness,  writing  in  1520, 
"  rush  to  Greek  letters,  they  endure  fasting,  toil  and  hunger,  in 
pursuit  of  them,"  and  where  Greek  was  studied  the  new  opinions 
were  sure  to  follow.  Matters  were,  indeed,  even  worse  than 
was  at  first  suspected.  Two  years  before,  in  December,  1525, 
Wolsey  had  transferred  a  number  of  students  from  Cambridge 
to  his  magnificent  foundation  of  Cardinal  College.  They  were 
all  chosen  for  their  abilities,  and  if,  possibly,  suspected  of 
heresy,  Wolsey  was  not  the  man  to  trouble  them,  so  long  as 
they  kept  it  to  themselves.  Oxford  had  boasted  of  being 
without  blot  or  suspicion  till  now,  but  things  were  suddenly 
changed,  for  four  of  the  new  comers — Frith,  Clark,  Sumner, 
and  Tavemer,  were  found  to  be  zealous  Gospellers.  Clark  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  reading  St.  Paul's  epistles  to  young  men  in 
his  rooms,  and  gradually  found  himself  the  centre  of  a  steadily 
increasing  circle  of  undergraduates,  who  would  not  be  dis- 
suaded from  attending,  in  spite  of  his  warning  of  the  peril  they 
incurred  for  doing  so.  "  I  fell  down  on  my  knees,"  says  one  of 
them,  Anthony  Delabere,  whose  touching  narrative  is  given  by 
Foxe,  "  and  with  tears  and  sighs,  besought  him  that  for  the 
tender  mercy  of  God,  he  should  not  refuse  me,  saying  that  I 
trusted  verily  that  He  who  had  begun  this  in  me  would  not 
forsake  me,  but  would  give  me  grace  to  continue  therein  to  the 
end.  When  he  heard  me  say  so  he  came  to  me,  took  me  in 
his  arms,  and  kissed  me,  saying,  *  The  Lord  God  Almighty 
grant  you  so  to  do,  and  from  henceforth  ever  take  me  for  your 
father,  and  I  will  take  you  for  my  son  in  Christ.'" 

They  had  been  in  the  habit  of  thus  meeting  for  about  six 
months,  when  in  Easter,  1527,  Thomas  Garret,  a  fellow  of 
Magdalen,  but  now  a  London  curate,  came  back  to  Oxford  to 
circulate  Testaments.     Unfortunately  he  had  been  tracked,  and 


1^6  TJte  English  Reformation.        [a.d.  1527-1539. 

orders  were  issued  for  his  arrest,  which  led  to  the  discovery  of 
all  that  was  going  on  among  the  reforming  students.  A  narra- 
tive written  by  Delabere,  still  survives/  and  paints  with  touch- 
ing pathos  the  ruin  which  thus  burst  on  his  associates.  Here- 
tical books  were  found  hidden  behind  the  wainscot  of  Clark's 
room,  and  he  was  forthwith  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  died 
before  the  end  of  the  year.  Some  escaped  to  the  Continent  ; 
others  recanted,  and  had  to  go  through  an  ignominious 
humiliation. 

Meanwhile  poor  Bilney  had  once  more  got  into  trouble.  His 
rash  promise  to  be  silent  in  public  had  proved  more  than  he 
could  keep,  and  he  had  consequently  left  Cambridge  in  the 
spring  of  1527,  a  few  months  after  his  appearance  before 
Wolsey,  on  a  missionary  tour  through  the  east  of  England — 
the  district  most  friendly  to  the  Reformers.  He  even  came  to 
London,  and,  by  the  favour  of  some  of  the  incumbents,  preached 
in  various  churches.  As  before,  he  zealously  urged  the  great 
doctrine  of  faith  in  Christ,  followed  by  a  holy  life,  as  the  one 
means  of  salvation,  and  spoke  lightly,  in  comparison,  of  the 
worship  of  images,  or  pilgrimages  to  holy  shrines,  or  the  adora- 
tion of  the  Virgin.  For  this  he  was  forthwith  arrested,  and 
once  more  brought  before  Wolsey,  who  recognized  him,  and 
charged  him  with  having  broken  his  promise  of  a  few  months 
before,  not  to  teach  the  Lutheran  doctrines.  Defence  was 
impossible,  and  the  choice  lay  between  the  flames  and  recant- 
ing. Thrice  he  refused,  but  at  last,  like  Barnes,  he  gave  way, 
and  on  the  8th  December,  1527,  went  through  the  same 
humiliation  as  Barnes  had  had  to  bear — standing  bareheaded 
on  the  same  spot,  bearing  a  faggot.  But  even  this  did  not  set 
him  free  :  he  was  sentenced  to  a  year's  imprisonment,  and  thus 
rejoined  Latimer,  at  Cambridge,  only  in  the  spring  of  1529. 

The  bishops,  however,  were  fighting  a  hopeless  battle,  for 
when  one  assailant  was  silenced  another  presently  disturbed 

*  See  Foxe,  v.  421 — 427. 


A.D.  i5a6— IS28.]  The  First  Martyrs.  197 

them  more  than  ever.  Tyndale  had  sent  over  his  New  Testa- 
ment in  1 526,  and  it  was  now  followed,  in  1 528,  by  his  "  Parable 
of  the  Wicked  Mammon,"  and  "  The  Obedience  of  a  Christian 
Man,"  in  which  the  Pope  was  openly  denounced  as  Antichrist, 
and  the  great  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith,  with  the  neces- 
sity of  a  holy  life,  was  insisted  on,  in  contradiction  to  the 
current  theology.  The  former  is  an  exposition  of  the  parable 
of  the  Unjust  Steward ;  the  latter  a  defence  of  the  Reformers 
from  the  imputations  of  disloyalty,  and  of  treasonable  and 
socialistic  teaching,  falsely  made  to  their  prejudice.  Both 
books  were  written  with  great  ability,  and  created  a  profound 
sensation  in  England,  for  they  passed  the  whole  Popish  system 
in  review,  with  an  earnestness  and  force  possible  only  in  an  age 
when  it  was  still  an  awful  impersonation  to  Englishmen,  of  all 
that  was  contrary  to  God  and  man.  Both  drew  down  the 
unmeasured  indignation  of  the  Church  authorities,  who  con- 
demned them  in  every  variety  of  abuse  as  "  frantic,"  "  pestilent," 
"  contagious,"  and  "  damnable."  Tunstal  even  induced  Sir 
Thomas  More  to  undertake  the  task  of  refuting  them,  but 
though,  beyond  question,  the  best  champion  the  Church  could 
have  chosen,  his  metaphysics  and  dexterous  palliations — in 
spite  of  his  grace  of  style — were  no  match  for  the  plain 
practical  force  of  a  reply  by  Tyndale,  which  soon  appeared. 

These  books,  so  violently  condemned  by  the  bishops  and 
their  party,  rendered  great  service  to  the  Reformers.  Their 
brave  and  cheering  tone  opportunely  roused  many  who  had 
been  terrified  by  the  vigour  of  the  Church  authorities.  Here- 
after we  shall  find  Bilney,  when  he  set  out,  as  he  pathetically 
expressed  it,  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  carrying  with  him  as  his 
great  supports  and  encouragements  to  fidelity,  Tyndale's  New 
Testament,  and  "The  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man" — and 
Bainham,  another  martyr,  strengthening  himself  to  brave  the 
fire  by  the  same  two  aids.  Indeed  the  martyrs,  as  a  rule,  went 
to  the  flames  with  the  Testament  in  their  hands.  But  "  The 
Obedience"  was  even  more  than  a  comfort  and  support  to 


198  The  English  Reformation.         [a.d.  1528-1530 

individuals  :  it  played  a  notable  part  in  preparing  the  public 
mind  for  the  changes  now  fast  coming.  It  brought  into  pro- 
minence, for  the  first  time,  the  two  great  truths  which  form  the 
essence  of  the  English  Reformation — the  supreme  authority  of 
Scripture  in  the  Church,  and  of  the  king  in  the  State.  Pre- 
sented with  Tyndale's  wonderful  force  of  expression  and  clear- 
ness of  argument,  these  principles  at  once  took  root  in  the 
public  mind.  From  this  time  the  Reformers  had  a  definite  aim 
and  purpose,  which  speedily  bore  its  fruits.  Within  four  years 
the  Royal  Supremacy  was  formally  acknowledged  by  the 
humbled  clergy,  and  the  Scriptures  took  their  place  only  a 
little  later  as  the  ultimate  authority  in  all  matters  of  faith  and 
practice.*  Far  and  wide,  Tyndale's  book,  directly  and  in- 
directly, led  to  these  great  results  :  men  like  Latimer  caught  its 
lessons,  and  spread  them  on  every  side  from  the  pulpit,  and 
they  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  among  the  mass  of  the 
people.  Even  Henry  himself  seems  to  have  seen  and  read 
"  The  Obedience,"  for  a  copy  which  belonged  to  Anne  Boleyn 
appears  to  have  fallen  in  his  way,  and  to  have  pleased  him 
greatly.  "  It  was  a  book,"  he  said,  "  for  him  and  all  kings  to 
read."''  Wolsey  and  Campeggio  were  precipitating  a  revolu- 
tion by  their  mock  proceedings  at  Blackfriars  when  these 
words  were  spoken. 

In  the  autumn  of  1529,  Tunstall  returned  from  a  mission  to 
Cambray,  with  all  the  New  Testaments  of  Tyndale  he  had  been 
able  to  buy  up  at  Antwerp,  and  was  unwise  enough  to  add  fuel 
to  the  popular  excitement  by  burning  them  in  a  great  bonfire  in 
Cheapside.  The  presses  were,  of  course,  at  once  set  to  work  on  a 
new  edition,  with  the  money  paid  for  the  burned  books,  and 
thousands  of  corrected  copies  were  smuggled  into  England 
within  a  few  months.  Tyndale  was  meanwhile  indefatigable  in 
other  directions.  His  "  Practice  of  Prelates,"  reached  England 
apparently  at  the  close  of  the  year  1530,  when  Parliament,  after 


'  Demaus'  Tyndale,  210,  211.  *  Dixon's  Two  Queens,  iv.  68. 


A.D.  1530.]  The  First  Martyrs.  199 

Wolsey's  fall,  had  reassembled  for  the  first  time  in  seven  years,  and 
the  House  of  Commons  had  risen  against  the  most  flagrant  abuses 
of  the  Church  system.  The  book  is  a  fierce  and  unmeasured  attack 
on  the  practices  by  which  the  Pope  and  clergy  had  gradually 
exchanged  primitive  poverty  and  humility  for  their  present 
glory.  As  he  well  might,  he  hated  the  whole  system  from  his 
heart.  In  the  Pope  he  saw  Antichrist  and  the  Scarlet  Woman  : 
the  clergy  were  Rome's  agents,  to  rob  and  oppress  the  people  ; 
and  the  monks  and  friars  were  "  caterpillars,"  "  horse-leeches," 
"  drones,"  and  "  draff."  Such  a  book,  circulated  far  and  wide, 
left  little  hope  of  Henry,  and  More,  now  chancellor,  being  able 
to  carry  out  their  scheme  of  prohibiting  all  serious  reform.  For 
the  first  time  overt  acts  of  hostility  to  the  Church  showed  them- 
selves, for  the  crosses  on  the  highways  were  now  disappearing, 
pulled  down  by  unknown  hands. 

The  spring  of  1 530  had  seen  the  first  appearance  of  Latimer 
as  a  court  preacher.  His  zeal  at  Cambridge,  on  behalf  of  the 
divorce,  had  been  reported  to  Henry,  and  the  result  was  a 
command  to  preach  before  him  on  the  Second  Sunday  in  Lent, 
— a  task  he  performed  so  well,  that  he  seems  to  have  been 
retained  to  preach,  or  at  least  to  stay  at  court,  during  the  rest 
of  Lent.  That  such  a  man  should  have  come  into  notice  at 
such  a  time  was  hopeful  for  the  future.  It  may  be  that  the 
friendship  of  Anne  Boleyn  for  him  dated  from  this  visit.  His 
discourses  have  not  come  down  to  us,  but  we  may  be  sure  they 
showed  the  same  fearless  honesty  as  made  the  Londoners  cheer 
him  in  after  years,  and  struggle  to  touch  his  gown,  as  he  walked 
down  the  Strand  to  preach  at  Whitehall.  Instinct  with  the  fire 
of  genius,  and  yet  simple,  the  plain  talk  of  a  plain  man,  who 
sprang  from  the  body  of  the  people ;  who  sympathized  strongly 
with  their  wants  and  feelings,  and  uttered  their  opinions  with  an 
earnestness  that  knew  no  fear,  they  spread  far  and  wide  a  con- 
tagious enthusiasm  for  opinions  thus  nobly  advanced. 

But  Henry  was  as  little  a  convert  to  the  new  doctrines  as  ever, 
and  wished  the  people  to  understand  the  fact.  A  proclamation 
10 


200  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  i5.io. 

was  therefore  issued  in  December,  1530,  immediately  after  the 
Commons  had  passed  acts  curtailing  the  extortions  of  the  clergy, 
ordering  all  heretical  books,  and  especially  the  New  Testament, 
to  be  delivered  up,  and  empowering  the  bishops  to  use  all  dili- 
gence to  arrest  the  progress  of  heresy,  by  seizing  all  suspected 
persons,  and  handing  over  the  guilty  and  relapsed  to  the  civil 
power  for  punishment.  The  circulation  of  "  heretical  books  " 
had  become  one  of  the  great  questions  of  the  day,  and  it  needed 
discrimination  on  the  part  of  the  authorities.  A  body  of  twelve 
men  from  each  imiversity  was  therefore  appointed  by  Henry  to 
decide  what  were  "  good  and  fruitful,"  what  "  erroneous  and 
seditious."  But  the  Reformers  were  few  as  yet,  and  were  com- 
pletely outnumbered  on  the  commission.  Sir  Thomas  More, 
Gardiner,  and  Tunstal,  and  most  of  the  others,  represented  the 
old  party ;  Latimer,  Crome,  and  William  Latimer,  the  new 
opinions.  The  works  of  Tyndale  were  condemned  as  full  of 
"  great  and  pestilent  heresies,"  and  his  New  Testament,  especi- 
ally, was  forbidden  as  dangerous.  Another  proclamation 
embodied  the  report  of  the  commission,  and  the  clergy  were 
ordered  to  read  from  their  pulpits  an  exhortation  to  their  flocks 
"  to  expel  and  purge  from  their  breasts  all  contagious  doctrine 
and  pestiferous  traditions  "  which  the  New  Testament  in  English 
might  have  taught  them.*  Yet  there  was  light  in  the  darkness, 
for  Henry  added  "  that  he  would  cause  the  New  Testament  to 
be  faithfully  and  purely  translated  into  the  mother  tongue,  that 
it  might  be  freely  given  to  the  people,  when  he  saw  their 
manner  and  behaviour  convenient  to  receive  the  same."  That 
time  was  not,  in  Henry's  opinion,  till  some  years  later,  yet,  in 
the  end,  it  was  no  new  "faithful  and  pure"  translation  which 
he  authorized,  but  that  of  Tyndale,  which  he  and  the  bishops 
had  united  to  proscribe. 

Meanwhile,  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  Latimer  wrote  to 
the  king  in  favour  of  the  free  circulation  of  the  New  Testament. 

'  Burnet,  i.  325. 


AD.  1530. 1531.]  The  First  Martyrs.  201 

Froude  rightly  calls  the  document  one  "  of  almost  unexampled 
grandeur."  Fearlessly  waiving  aside  the  adverse  report  of  the 
commission  as  one-sided  and  misleading,  he  pressed  Henry  with 
a  loftiness  of  appeal  rarely  equalled,  to  cancel  his  proclamation 
based  on  it.  It  is  to  the  king's  honour  that  such  fidelity  not 
only  brought  no  disfavour,  but  led  Latimer  to  be  presently 
chosen  a  royal  chaplain.  Yet  the  fears  that  always  hinder 
great  changes  for  the  time  made  Henry  pause  before  allowing 
even  the  most  needful  religious  reform.  While  this  letter  from 
Latimer  was  yet  hardly  read  by  him,  Wolsey  had  sent  him  a  last 
counsel  from  his  deathbed,  to  "  have  a  vigilant  eye  to  depress 
the  new  sect — the  Lutherans,  that  it  do  not  increase  through 
your  negligence,  in  such  a  sort  as  you  be  at  length  compelled  to 
put  on  harness  (armour)  on  your  back  to  subdue  them."  He 
then  quoted  the  case  of  Bohemia,  where,  as  he  averred,  heresy 
having  been  allowed  to  grow,  had  brought  it  about  that  "  the 
rebels  in  the  end  slew  the  king,  the  nobles,  and  all  the  gentlemen 
of  the  realm,"  and  made  Bohemia  to  "be  abhorred  of  all 
Christian  nations."  Henry  was  exhorted  to  consider  the  story  of 
King  Richard  H.,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Wycliffe's  "seditious 
and  erroneous  opinions.  Did  not  the  Commons  in  his  time  rise 
against  the  nobles  and  head  governors  of  this  realm  of  England, 
and  did  they  not  fall  to  spoiling  and  robbery,  which  was  their 
only  pretence  to  have  all  things  in  common  ?  Did  not  also 
the  traitorous  heretic  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  Lord  of  Cobham, 
pitch  a  field  with  heretics  against  King  Henry  V.,  to  whom 
God  gave  the  victory  ? "  To  neglect  such  precedents,  said  the 
dying  man,  in  conclusion,  would  lead  to  "  the  utter  ruin  and 
desolation  of  this  realm."*  It  was  in  an  atmosphere  charged 
with  such  fears  af  all  religious  change,  that  Henry  and  the  men 
of  his  age  had  to  move. 

The  spring  of  1531  saw  the  revolution  in  full  course,  for  the 
whole  clergy  had  now  been  brought  under  the  penalties  of 

*  Cavtnclish,  278. 


202  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1531. 

premunire,  and  a  forced  acknowledgment  had  been  extorted  from 
them,  of  Henry's  supremacy  over  the  Church,  in  place  of  that  of 
the  Pope,  which  had  hitherto  been  the  keystone  of  the  Church. 
But  if  the  bishops  had  thus  to  bow  before  Henry,  they  avenged 
themselves  by  increased  vigour  against  the  Reformers.  Latimer, 
Bilney,  and  Crome,  were  forthwith  accused  by  Stokesley,  now 
Bishop  of  London,  (1530- 1539)  for  heretical  preaching  in  his 
diocese,  but  he  could  only  lay  hold  on  Crome,  who  was  a  London 
incumbent,  and  him  he  frightened  into  retracting.  With  More 
as  Chancellor,  the  Reformers  had  cause  to  look  fondly  back  on 
the  clemency  of  Wolsey.  Latimer,  now  a  Hereford  rector,  had 
roused  the  ill-will  of  the  priests  and  monks  in  his  neighbourhood 
by  his  preaching,  though  perhaps  by  its  popularity  as  much  as 
its  heresy.  Nothing,  however,  was  done  against  him  for  the 
time.  But  in  the  summer  of  1 531,  he  was  once  more  in 
London,  and,  apparently,  in  Stokesley's  power ;  yet,  though  he 
preached  in  the  city  against  the  abuses  and  superstitions  of  the 
day,  and  counselled  his  hearers,  "  if  they  would  go  on  pilgrim- 
ages, to  make  them  to  their  poor  neighbours  round  them," 
Henry  refused  to  listen  to  the  bishop's  accusations,  and  Latimer 
returned  in  safety  to  West  Kington. 

Still,  if  the  bishops  were  baulked  in  their  wish  to  destroy 
Latimer,  they  were  more  successful  against  his  friend  and 
spiritual  father,  Bilney.  Ever  since  his  release  from  prison,  in 
the  end  of  1528,  that  lowly  and  gentle  spirit  had  been  oppressed 
with  shame  at  his  weakness  in  the  hour  of  trial,  till  now,  at  last, 
he  had  risen  above  the  fear  of  death.  His  Bible,  which  is  stiU 
preserved  at  Cambridge,  reveals  affectingly  the  solemn  calmness 
of  his  self-sacrifice,  for  it  still  bears  the  mark  of  his  pen  at  the 
touching  verse,  "  Fear  not,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee,  and 
called  thee  by  thy  name,  thou  art  mine  ;  when  thou  walkest 
through  the  fire,  thou  shall  not  be  burned,  neither  shall  the 
flame  kindle  upon  thee."  He  had  underlined  these  italicised 
words. 

In  the  spring  of  1531,  having  gathered  together  those  of  his 


A.D.  1531]  Tfie  First  Martyrs.  203 

friends  still  at  Cambridge,  he  tenderly  bade  them  farewell,  saying 
that  "  He  must  needs  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  would  see  their 
face  no  more,''  and  forthwith  set  out  to  Norwich.  There,  he 
preached  privately  at  first,  "  to  confirm  the  brethren,"  but  after- 
wards, openly,  in  the  fields,  confessing  his  past  weakness,  main- 
taining the  doctrine  he  had  professed  before  his  fall  to  be  the 
very  truth,  and  warning  all  men  "  to  beware  by  him,  and  never 
to  trust  to  their  fleshly  friends,  in  matters  of  religion."  Returning 
to  Norwich  he  gave  one  of  Tyndale's  New  Testaments,  and  a 
copy  of  his  "Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man,"  to  a  nun  whom  he 
had  won  to  Christ,  and  for  this  he  was  presently  apprehended, 
and  thrown  into  prison.  No  new  trial  was  needed.  All  that 
was  needed  before  burning  him  as  a  relapsed  heretic  was  a  writ 
from  London,  and  for  this  the  bishop,  Nix,  a  blind  man,  instantly 
sent.  Bilney  "was  thoroughly  orthodox  in  the  great  doctrines  of 
Rome.  He  held  the  Church  laws  to  be  in  great  part  not  only 
useful,  but  agreeable  to  Scripture ;  with  respect  to  the  Mass,  he 
never  varied  from  the  old  faith ;  and  he  believed  that  "  only 
priests  ordained  by  bishops  have  the  keys,  by  virtue  of  which 
they  both  bind  and  loose  ;  and  that  the  unworthiness  of  a  priest 
does  not  lessen  the  efficacy  of  sacraments,  so  long  as  he  is 
tolerated  by  the  Church."  But  he  had  condemned  images  ;  he 
had  reproved  the  immorality  of  the  priests ;  he  had  spoken 
against  pilgrimages,  and  he  had  said  that  "  our  Saviour  Christ 
is  our  Mediator  between  us  and  the  Father  ;  why  then  should 
we  seek  for  remedy  to  any  saint  inferior  to  Christ } " 

Lord  Chancellor  More,  as  his  epitaph  boasts,  was  hard  on 
heretics.  "  Go  your  ways,"  said  he,  when  asked  for  the  writ  to 
burn  Bilney,  "  burn  him  first,  and  then  come  to  me  for  a  bill 
(writ)  of  my  hand."  A  few  days  sufficed  to  get  the  authority 
needed,  and  these  Bilney  spent,  in  part,  amidst  true  hearted 
friends  who  visited  him  in  the  prison.  Others,  however,  troubled 
him  not  a  little  by  repeated  attempts  to  get  him  to  recant  once 
more.  But  he  was  firm.  The  writ  received,  he  was  led  from 
the  Norwich  Guildhall  prison,  under  escort  of  men  armed  with 


204  "^^^^  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1531. 

glaives'  and  halberds;'*  his  friend,  Dr.  Warner,  "parson  of 
Winterton,"  bravely  walking  by  his  side.  Dressed  in  a  layman's 
gown,  for  he  had  been  degraded  from  the  priesthood  ;  his 
sleeves  hanging  down  and  his  arms  out;  his  hair  cropped 
close  at  his  degradation — a  "  little  body  in  person,  but  always  of 
a  good  upright  countenance," — Bilney  paced  on  through  the 
streets,  scattering  alms  with  which  Dr.  Warner  had  provided  him. 
Repeating  the  words,  "  Hear  my  prayer,  O  Lord,  consider  my 
desire,"  and  thrice  over  adding  the  next  verse,  "  And  enter  not 
into  judgment  with  thy  servant,  for  in  thy  sight  shall  no  man 
living  be  justified,"  he  let  himself  be  bound  to  the  stake,  after 
putting  oif  his  gown,  jacket,  and  doublet,  so  that  he  stood  in  his 
hose  and  shirt.  The  wind  was  high,  and  the  reeds  piled  round 
him  blazed  fiercely,  but  the  faggots  needed  to  be  thrice  kindled 
before  there  was  fire  enough  to  burn  him  to  death.  "  Jesus," 
and  "I  believe,"  were  his  last  words.^  So  died  the  first  of  the 
prominent  martyrs  of  the  Reformation  ;  "  Good  Bilney,"  "  that 
blessed  Bilney,"  "  Saint  Bilney,"  as  Latimer  calls  him ;  "  a  witness 
against  the  tyrannical  see  of  Rome." 

Bilney  perished  on  the  19th  August,  1531.  Wolsey  had  died 
on  the  23rd  November,  1530.  More  had  lost  no  time  in  kindling 
the  fires. 

Cromwell  succeeded  Wolsey  in  the  confidence  of  Henry 
almost  immediately,  and  from  the. first  sought  to  help  on  the 
Reformation.  Tyndale  had  been  denounced  by  the  bishops  in 
May,  1530,  but  Cromwell  now  urged  the  king  to  bring  him  to 
England  to  give  counsel  in  religious  affairs.  But  Stokesley  and 
More  were  too  zealous  in  hunting  down  the  Reformers  to  make 
his  return  safe.  His  brother  and  a  friend  had  just  been  arrested 
by  them  in  London,  on  the  charge  of  introducing  his  New 
Testament  from  abroad  and  selling  them,  and  of  sending  money 

*  A  long  sword  with  only  one  sharp  edge. 
A  weapon  consisting  of  a  spear-liead  and  axe  in  one  piece,  fixed  on  a 
wooden  shaft  »  See  Foxe,  iv.  619—657. 


A.D.  1531.]  The  First  Martyrs.  205 

to  him  and  corresponding  with  him.  For  this  they  had  been 
sentenced  by  the  Star  Chamber'  Court  to  sit  on  horseback,  at 
the  Standard  at  Cheapside,  their  faces  turned  to  the  horses'  tails, 
and  their  cloaks  hung  with  the  hated  Testaments,  and  to  pay  a 
heavy  fine.  Vaughan,  the  king's  envoy,  had  been  specially 
instructed  to  try  to  induce  Tyndale  to  return  to  England,  and 
Henry  himself,  wrote  on  the  matter,  but  the  Reformer  was  pru- 
dent enough  to  decline  the  invitation.  John  Frith,  the  future 
martyr,  his  bosom  friend,  had  ventured  into  England  in  March, 
and  no  doubt  brought  back  news  that  it  was  safer  to  remain  on  the 
Continent.  It  was  well,  indeed,  that  he  did  so,  for  his  "  Practice 
of  Prelates  "  which  reached  England  soon  after,  made  Henry 
his  bitter  enemy,  by  its  speaking  of  the  divorce  as  contrary  to 
the  word  of  God. 

Persecution  was,  meanwhile,  waxing  hotter  and  hotter  in 
England.  Convocation  had  decreed  at  the  end  of  February, 
that  the  body  of  a  friend  of  Tyndale 's,  William  Tracy,  of  Tod- 
dington,  in  Gloucester,  should  be  dug  up  from  its  grave  and 
cast  out  of  consecrated  ground  as  that  of  a  "heretic;"  Latimer 
and  Crome  had  already  been  accused,  and  on  the  last  day  of 
March,  John  Lambert,  or  Nicholson,  a  convert  of  Bilney,  and 
formerly,  for  a  time,  chaplain  to  the  English  at  Antwerp,  was 
brought  before  Convocation,  and  afterwards  before  Archbishop 
Warham,  in  whose  house  he  was  confined  till  the  archbishop's 
death,  in  August,  1532,  when  the  process  against  him  was 
abandoned. 

The  fierce  disputes  about  the  divorce,  in  which  all  the  women 
were  for  the  queen  and  all  the  men  for  the  king,'  and  the  still 
more  bitter  wranglings  of  Convocation  as  to  the  apportionment 
of  the  penalty  levied  on  the  clergy  for  premunire  f  were  the 

'  This  name  is  generally  explained  from  the  ornaments  on  the 
roof  of  the  chamber.  It  was  really  derived  from  the  "starrs,"  or  con- 
tracts  and  obligations  kept  in  it.  See  Mueller's  Etymologisches  W5rter- 
buch.  *  Burnet,  i.  213. 

*  More  committed  fifteen  of  the  clergy  and  five  laymen  to  prison  for  a 


2o6  The  English  Reformation.  ta-d.  1531. 

noisy  strife  at  the  universities  for  and  against  the  king's  demand 
for  an  opinion  on  his  marriage,  were  thus  varied  through  1531 
by  as  fierce  a  zeal  against  the  Reformers.  Another  victim,  a 
curate  at  Maidstone,  was  given  to  the  flames.  He  was  charged 
with  importing  the  New  Testament,  and  was  burned  at  Graves- 
end,  after  a  long  imprisonment,  on  the  sentence  of  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  and  Archbishop  Warham ;  More,  of  course, 
granting  the  writ. 

Nor  was  Stokesley  idle.  He,  too,  like  the  blind  Bishop  of 
Norwich,  wished  to  boast  of  having  burned  heretics,  and  was 
scon  able  to  do  so.  Richard  Bayfield,  a  monk  of  Bury  Abbey, 
had  been  won  to  the  Reformers  by  two  itinerant  "  Christian 
Brethren,"  brickmakers  by  trade,  who  from  time  to  time  went 
secretly  through  Essex  to  spread  the  new  opinions.  He  had 
also  obtained  Tyndale's  Testament  and  his  "  Obedience  of  a 
Christian  Man,"  but  being  found  out  was  put  into  the  abbey 
prison  for  nine  months,  after  being  whipped  and  laid  in  the 
stocks.  Escaping  finally  to  Cambridge,  he  sought  instructions 
from  Bilney,  but  dreading  more  trouble  he  fled  again  to  London, 
where  he  was  sheltered  by  the  "  Christian  Brothers  "  who  had 
first  led  him  to  Christ.  He  was  soon  discovered,  however,  and 
brought  before  Tunstal,  who,  like  Wolsey,  was  averse  to  blood, 
and  persuaded  him  to  recant.  Erelong  he  fled  to  the  Continent, 
where  he  could  be  in  a  measure  safe,  and  there  he  joined 
Tyndale  and  other  exiles.  He  even  ventured  back  several  times 
to  London,  to  sell  Tyndale's  Testaments,  but  was  caught  at  last, 
and  thrust  into  the  Lollards'  tower  in  St.  Paul's,  of  which  Latimer 
used  to  say,  it  were  better  to  be  in  purgatory  than  there.  But 
here  he  committed  a  fresh  offence,  by  seeking  to  strengthen  in 
the  faith  a  priest  confined  with  him  for  the  sake  of  the  Gospel, 


disturbance  at  a  meeting  of  Convocation  at  the  Chapter  House,  Westminster, 
about  the  king's  fine.  The  poor  clergy  said  "  they  had  not  used  Wolsey's 
Court ;  only  the  rich  bishops  and  abbots  had.  They  should  not  pay ;  the 
others  only  should." 


A.D.  IS3I.]  The  First  Martyrs.  207 

For  this  he  was  taken  to  a  cellar  of  the  Bishop's,  in  Paternoster 
Row,  and  there  kept  standing,  by  iron  bands  round  his  neck  and 
legs,  in  the  vain  hope  of  forcing  him  to  give  up  the  names  of 
those  to  whom  he  had  sold  books.  At  last  Stokesley  condemned 
him  as  a  relapsed  heretic,  and  he  was  burned  at  Smithfield  on 
the  2 1  St  November,  1531. 

A  fresh  victim  speedily  followed  him  to  the  stake.  A  leather 
merchant  of  the  City,  Tewkesbury  by  name,  had  recanted  before 
Tunstal,  but  was  again  arrested  in  the  fall  of  1531.  More  had 
him  carried  to  his  garden  at  Chelsea,  and  there  tied  to  a  tree 
and  whipped,  to  make  him  recant  once  more.  This  failing, 
cords  were  tied  round  his  head,  and  strained  till  the  blood  started 
from  his  eyes.  He  was  then  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  stretched 
on  the  rack  till  he  could  hardly  walk.  Overpowered  by  such 
barbarity,  the  unhappy  man  at  last  yielded  and  was  released,  but, 
unable  to  keep  silent,  he  was  soon  once  more  apprehended  and 
brought  before  Stokesley  and  More  at  Chelsea,  condemned,  and 
burnt  at  Smithfield  on  the  20th  of  December. 

How  many  more  Englishmen  suffered  this  terrible  death  at 
this  time  can  never  be  known,  but  it  may  be  judged  by  the 
remark  of  a  correspondent  of  Erasmus,  that  wood  was  getting 
dear  in  London  from  the  quantity  used  for  burning  heretics  at 
Smithfield. 

But  burnings  were  not  all  men  had  to  suffer — hardly  the  worst. 
Numbers  were  racked,  tortured,  imprisoned,  and  harried  in  a 
thousand  ways,  for  no  greater  crime  than  refusing  to  believe  that 
the  bread  on  the  communion  table  was  God,  or  for  teaching 
their  children,  or  reading  to  their  neighbours,  a  chapter  of  the 
New  Testament,  or  for  having  one  .in  their  own  possession.  The 
bishops  were  trying  to  set  up  a  reign  of  terror,  and  filled  their 
prisons  with  countless  victims.  "  Why  stand  I  numbering  the 
sand  ? "  asks  John  Foxe,  "  for  if  all  the  register  books  were 
sought,  it  would  be  an  infinite  thing  to  recite  all  them  which, 
throughout  the  realm,  were  troubled  for  such  like  matters." 
What  shall  we  say,  after  this,  of  the  boast  of  an  organ  of  the 


208 


The  English  Reformation. 


[A.D.  1531. 


"Conspirators,"  that  "the  work  going  on  in  England  is  an  earnest 
and  carefully  organized  attempt  on  the  part  of  a  rapidly  increasing 
body  of  priests  and  laymen  to  bring  our  Church  and  country  up 
to  the  full  standard  of  catholic  faith  and  practice,  and  eventually 
to  plead  for  her  union  with  Rome  "  ? 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  FORLORN  HOPE  OF  FREEDOM. 

THE  year  1532  saw  the  ecclesiastical  revolution  in  full 
course,  but  it  brought  no  mitigation  of  sufferings  to  the 
Reformers.  In  January,  Dr.  Bennet,  a  prominent  Church 
lawyer,  was  sent  to  Rome  with  the  opinions  of  the  universities. 
Meanwhile,  before  any  answer  could  be  returned,  the  Commons, 
in  March,  at  the  king's  dictation,  to  show  the  Pope  how  little  he 
feared  him,  passed  an  act  conditionally  prohibiting  the  payment 
of  annates,  or  first  fruits,  a  tax  of  their  whole  first  year's  income, 
paid  by  bishops  and  clergy  alike,  on  their  appointment  to  dioceses 
or  livings.  Levied  originally  to  defend  Christendom  against 
the  Turk,  it  had  very  soon  been  appropriated  by  the  popes  and 
their  officials  to  their  private  uses,  and  its  threatened  loss  touched 
them  sharply,  for  it  had  yielded  nearly  three  millions  since  the 
accession  of  Henry  VII.  But  the  Commons  were  not  disposed  to 
limit  their  reforms  to  matters  affecting  the  Pope  alone.  Bishops' 
courts  must  be  reformed.  Prisoners  brought  before  them  never  saw 
their  accusers,  and  were  summarily  required  either  to  abjure  or 
burn.'  The  king,  wished  the  House,  in  the  meantime,  to  leave 
such  matters,  but  for  once  it  resisted  him,  and  sent  him  a  long 
list  of  ecclesiastical  grievances.  In  May,  Convocation  had  to 
sign  iLs  own  death  warrant,  and  surrender  all  claim  to  legislate 

*  Burnet,  i.  236. 


2IO  The  English  Reformation.  1^.0.1532. 

for  the  Church,  even  in  the  most  purely  spiritual  details.  Hence- 
forth it  could  not  pass  the  most  needful  canon — that  is,  rule  or 
law  affecting  the  clergy — without  a  royal  license,  and  in  fact 
became  what  it  still  remains,  little  more  than  a  venerable  shadow. 
On  the  day  after  the  annihilation  of  this  ancient  Parliament  of 
the  clergy,  Sir  Thomas  More,  lamenting  its  subversion  as  a 
step  towards  ecclesiastical  revolution,  and  seeing  the  divorce  at 
hand,  resigned  the  Chancellorship,  and  was  succeeded  by  Audley, 
the  late  speaker.  But  the  change  brought  no  lull  in  the  tempest 
of  persecution.  Even  the  continent  was  no  longer  safe,  for 
Henry  was  trying  to  arrest  Tyndale,  among  others,  though  in 
Antwerp,  and  he  had  to  flee  thence  for  his  life.^ 

Stokesley  had  never  forgiven  Latimer  for  his  sermons  in  London 
the  year  before,  and  after  various  unsuccessful  attempts,  at  last 
got  him  into  his  power,  to  answer  for  the  "  crimes  and  grave 
excesses  committed  by  him  within  the  diocese  of  London."  On 
the  29th  January,  1532,  the  Reformer  appeared  before  the  bishop 
in  the  Consistory  Court,  at  St.  Paul's,  five  or  six  bishops  sitting 
with  Stokesley,  as  assessors.  The  fire  had  been  removed  from 
the  great  fireplace  of  the  room,  and  a  curtain  hung  before  it, 
behind  which  a  clerk  had  been  hidden  to  take  down  all  Latinier's 
answers,  without  his  knowing.  His  quick  ears,  however,  heard 
the  pen  "walking,"  and  he  was  on  his  guard.  Questions 
ingeniously  framed  were  put  to  him,  to  ensnare  him,  and  he  knew 
that,  if  convicted,  neither  Cromwell  nor  Anne  Boleyn,  his  steady 
friends,  could  save  him,  for  the  king  gloried  in  his  orthodoxy. 
The  examination  continued,  at  intervals,  for  six  weeks,  but 
failed  to  establish  any  charge  of  heresy.  Stokesley  was  too  vin- 
dictive, however,  to  let  him  go,  and  referred  the  case  to  Convo- 
cation. 

It  was  well  for  Latimer  that  his  popularity,  and  the  fact  that 

'  Demaus'  Tyndale,  343.  An  admirable  book ;  the  fruit  of  much 
independent  research,  and  admirably  written.  All  interested  in  the 
Reformation  should  obtain  it  and  its  companion  volume,  Hugh  Latimer, 
by  the  same  author. 


AD.  1532.]  The  Forlorn  Hope  of  Freedom.  2 1  i 

the  Church  itself  was  now  on  its  trial,  made  it  impolitic  to  treat 
him  with  open  injustice.  The  Commons  were  at  the  moment 
impeaching  Bishops'  Courts,  and  Warham,  feeble  in  his  old  age, 
had  been  forced  to  content  himself  by  a  private  protest  against 
this  invasion  of  ecclesiastical  privileges. 

In  March,  Latimer  appeared  before  Convocation,  and  having 
thrice  refused  to  sign  a  list  of  articles  submitted  to  him,  was  ex- 
communicated by  Warham  and  ordered  into  custody  at  Lambeth 
till  his  fate  was  decided.  Crome  had  signed  just  such  a  list,  and, 
like  him,  Latimer  was  not  prepared  categorically  to  deny  any  of 
them,  yet  shrank  from  sanctioning  the  abuses  which  had  become 
connected  with  them.  Summoned  once  and  again  from  his  dungeon 
he  fought  bravely  for  weeks,  but  at  last,  brave  as  he  was,  even 
he  yielded  and  consented  to  sign.  But  he  was  not  even  then  set 
free.  It  was  not  till  the  22nd  of  April,  after  three  months  of 
mental  torture  and  humiliation  that  he  was  absolved,  on  craving 
forgiveness  of  Convocation  on  his  knees.  If  even  he,  one  of  the 
most  fearless  of  men,  was  thus  awed  into  an  ignoble,  though 
only  temporary  submission,  how  much  excuse  is  there  for  the 
weakness  of  others  ? 

But  there  was  one — a  layman,  at  that  moment  in  Newgate, 
who  was  to  bring  back  this  wavering  Peter  from  his  faint-hearted 
denial  of  the  truth.  On  the  same  day  on  which  Latimer  was 
trying  hard  before  the  Convocation  to  reconcile  opposites — his 
conscience  and  the  old  faith — Stokesley's  vicar-general  had 
a  relapsed  heretic  before  him,  whom  he  was  presently  to  con- 
demn. 

James  Bainham,  the  son  of  a  Gloucestershire  knight,  after  a 
liberal  education  in  the  New  Learning,  had  chosen  the  law 
for  a  profession.  He  was  a  man  of  singular  uprightness  and 
charity,  but  having  married  the  widow  of  that  Simon  Fish, 
whose  "  Supplication  of  the  Beggars  "  had  created  so  great  a 
stir  by  its  keen  satire  on  the  clergy,  he  was  accused  before 
More,  and  taken  from  his  chambers  in  the  Middle  Temple  to 
More's  house  at  Chelsea.    Gentle  confinement  there  having 


212  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  isss- 

failed  to  win  him  back  to  the  old  faith,  he  was  tied  to  a  tree  in 
the  garden  and  whipped ;  then  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  there 
racked  so  terribly,  in  the  presence  of  More,  that  he  was  lamed. 
His  great  offence  was  that  he  would  not  inform  on  any  of  the 
lawyers,  his  friends,  or  tell  where  he  had  hidden  his  books.  His 
wife  also  was  sent  to  prison  for  denying  that  they  were  in  the 
house,  and  his  goods  were  confiscated. 

Three  appearances  before  Stokesley's  court,  in  December 
and  February,  with  close  prison  between,  added  to  the  racking 
and  torments  he  had  endured,  at  last,  for  the  moment,  bowed 
even  Bainham's  brave  heart,  and  he  finally  consented  to  abjure. 
Besides  this  he  had  to  pay  ;^20,  equal  to  ;^240  now,  to  the 
king ;  to  go  to  the  Cross  at  St.  Paul's  in  procession,  to  stand 
during  a  sermon  there,  with  a  faggot  on  his  shoulder,  and  then 
to  be  led  back  to  the  prison.  He  was  then  released,  after  months 
of  martyrdom. 

Scarcely  had  he  been  a  month  at  home,  however,  before  his 
conscience  smote  him  so  for  having  yielded,  that  he  could  not 
be  at  peace  till  he  had  openly  asked  forgiveness  from  the  con- 
gregation of  "Christian  Brethren  "  he  attended,  at  its  meeting 
place  in  Bow  Lane.  Nor  was  this  enough.  The  Sunday  after,  he 
rose  in  St.  Austin's  Church,  a  New  Testament  in  Enghshin  his 
hand,  and  the  "  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man  "  in  his  bosom — 
both  Tyndale's  books — and  stood,  with  tears  streaming  down 
his  cheeks,  declaring  that  he  had  denied  God,  and  praying  all 
to  forgive  him.  He,  further,  wrote  to  the  bishop,  to  his  brother, 
and  to  others,  in  the  same  spirit.  For  all  this  he  was  forthwith 
arrested  afresh  and  lodged  in  the  Tower.  He  had  been  con- 
demned as  a  relapsed  heretic  a  day  or  two  before  Latimer  was 
set  free,  and  having  been  carried  to  Newgate  to  be  near  the 
place  of  burning,  was  visited  by  the  fallen  Reformer  and  some 
friends.  They  found  him  sitting  on  some  straw,  with  a  book 
and  a  wax  candle  in  his  hand,  praying  and  reading.  Asked 
for  what  he  was  to  die,  he  told  them  that  he  had  spoken  of 
Thomas  k  Becket  as  a  traitor,  and  had  said  that  there  was  no 


A.D.  1532-]  TJie  Forlorn  Hope  of  Freedom.  213 

such  thing  as  purgatory.  Latimer,  ill  at  ease  in  his  own  mind, 
cautioned  him  to  beware  lest  he  was  dying  for  vain  glory  ;  but 
Bainham,  while  thanking  him,  expressed  his  hope  that  he,  him- 
self, would  stand  to  the  defence  of  the  truth,"^  adding,  says 
Foxe,  "  comfortable  words."  How  deeply  his  counsels  sank  into 
Latimer's  heart  showed  itself  in  all  his  future  life. 

The  last  day  of  April  saw  Bainham  die  for  his  faith.  Stand- 
ing on  a  barrel  of  pitch,  with  bags  of  gunpowder  hung  from 
his  neck  he  prayed  for  his  enemies  as  the  fire  swept  up  around 
him ;  his  last  words — "  The  Lord  forgive  Sir  Thomas  More,"' 
making  a  specially  deep  impression. 

But  one  victim  would  not  content  Stokesley.  John  Frith,  a 
bosom  friend  of  Tyndale's,  and  obnoxious  even  on  that  ground, 
had  long  been  marked  as  a  future  victim.  He  had  been  one 
of  Clark's  band  of  reformers  at  Oxford,  and  had  been  im- 
prisoned with  the  others  in  the  cellar  where  the  salt  fish  of  the 
college,  used  in  Lent,  and  on  Fridays  and  fast  days,  had  hither- 
to been  kept.  Four,  however,  having  died  from  the  stench  of 
their  dungeon,  and  from  having  been  fed  on  salt  fish  exclusively, 
as  a  penance,  from  February  to  August,  Wolsey  ordered  the 
dismissal  of  the  survivors.  Frith  among  them,  on  condition  that 
they  should  not  go  beyond  ten  miles  from  Oxford.  After  a  time, 
however,  fearing  another  arrest,  he  fled  beyond  seas  and  joined 
Tyndale,  by  whom  he  was  welcomed,  for,  though  only  a  young 
man,  he  was  no  less  marked  by  abilities  and  learning  than  by 
moderation  and  Christian  spirit. 

Hearing  that  More  had  resigned  the  Great  Seal,  in  May, 
1532,  Frith  thought  he  might  venture  once  more  into  England, 
but  soon  found  himself  in  great  danger,  and  tried  to  get  back 
again  to  Antwerp.  But  his  return  had  been  made  known  by 
the  spies  of  the  bishops,  who  were  numerous  among  the 
Reformers,  and  "  the  ways  and  havens  were  beset "  for  him, 
while  great  rewards  were  offered  for  his  arrest.     Tyndale  wrote 

*  Strype's  Eccles.  Memorials,  422.  ■  Foxe,  iv.  705. 


214  ^'^^  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1533. 

him  a  kind  and  wise  letter  on  hearing  of  his  danger,  cautioning 
him  to  meddle  as  little  as  he  could  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
Real  Presence,  but  unfortunately  the  letter  reached  him  too  late. 
He  had  formerly  written  a  tract  against  Purgatory,  which  had 
roused  the  bishops  against  him,  and  had  now,  already,  drawn  up 
in  manuscript  a  short  treatise  on  the  Real  Presence,  for  the  use 
of  a  friend.  His  having  done  so  was  instantly  reported  by  an 
informer,  to  Sir  Thomas  More,  to  whom  any  discussion  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Mass,  however  reverend  and  cautious,  was  the 
source  of  all  heresy,  as  questioning  that  which  was  the  keystone 
of  the  whole  Romish  system.  Escape  was  henceforth  almost 
hopeless,  and  autumn  saw  Frith  arrested  in  Essex,  on  his  way 
to  set  sail  for  the  Continent,  and  after  being  brought  before 
More  and  the  bishops,  he  was  committed  to  the  Tower. 

Things  were  so  rapidly  changing  in  England,  however,  in 
some  respects,  that  there  seemed  a  hope  that  Frith  would  escape 
after  all.  Warham  had  died  in  August,  and  Cranmer,  who  was 
known  to  lean  towards  the  Reformers,  was  named  by  Henry  as 
his  successor.  While  P'rith  lay  in  the  Tower,  moreover,  the 
dispute  with  Rome  had  come  to  a  head,  by  the  king  marrying 
Anne  Boleyn  in  defiance  of  Papal  prohibitions,  while  More, 
immediately  after,  retired  into  private  life ;  for  though  he  had 
resigned  in  May,  he  was  not  formally  released  from  his  Chan- 
cellorship till  the  end  of  next  January. 

Unfortunately,  in  the  meantime.  More,  in  his  zeal  to  defend 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  had  written  a  reply  to  Frith's  tract, 
declaring  that  it  contained  "  all  the  poison  that  Wycliflfe,  Tyn- 
dale,  and  Zuinglius  had  taught  concerning  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Altar ;  not  only  affirming  it  to  be  very  bread  still, 
as  Luther  does,  but  also,  as  these  other  beasts  do,  that  it  is 
nothing  else."  After  this,  unless  Frith  recanted,  nothing  could 
save  him. 

But  he  was  not  to  be  daunted  by  any  peril.  Though  young, 
he  was  of  heroic  mould,  and  answered  More  with  such  learning 
and  skill  of   argument  as  showed  no  common  mind.     That 


AD.  15331  The  Forlorn  Hope  of  Freedom.  2 1 5 

Cranmer,  in  after  years,  should  have  spoken  of  Frith 's  writings 
as  having  specially  convinced  him  that  the  Romish  view  of  the 
Sacrament  was  untenable,*  is  sufficient  proof  of  their  surpassing 
merit.  Nor  was  his  moral  grandeur  less  striking  than  his  intel- 
lectual power.  Such  was  the  confidence  in  his  word  felt  even 
by  his  jailers,  that,  after  a  short  time,  he  was  allowed  to  go  out 
of  the  Tower  "  during  the  night,  to  consult  with  good  men," 
while  preparing  his  reply  to  More ;  nor  did  he  fail  to  come 
freely  back  after  such  glimpses  of  liberty,  though  to  return  was, 
as  he  knew,  to  die  at  the  stake. 

Sometime  about  the  coronation  of  Anne  Boleyn,  on  the  ist 
of  June,  1533,  this  leader  of  the  forlorn  hope  of  spiritual  liberty 
was  once  more  brought  before  his  judges.  One  of  Henry's 
chaplains  had  inveighed,  in  a  court  sermon,  against  the  leniency 
with  which  heretics  were  treated,  and  especially  complained  of 
no  attempt  being  made  at  the  "  reformation "  of  one  who,  at 
that  moment,  though  a  prisoner,  had  openly  written  against  the 
Real  Presence.  Frith  was  thus  clearly  p>ointed  out,  and  Henry 
was  too  jealous  of  his  orthodoxy  to  let  the  complaint  be  re- 
peated. Cranmer  and  Cromwell  were  forthwith  summoned  and 
commanded  to  examine  the  offender — for  even  in  the  trial  of  a 
heretic  the  immense  capacity  of  the  king  for  business  left  his 
ministers,  whether  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  only  the  preparation  of 
the  case  for  his  future  personal  decision.  From  the  Tower, 
Frith  was  taken  to  the  archbishop's  palace  at  Croydon  that  he 
might  be  out  of  reach  of  the  people.  But  Cromwell  and  Cran- 
mer were  alike  anxious  that  he  should  not  suffer,  and  caused  it 
to  be  hinted  to  him,  through  a  gentleman  of  the  archbishop's 
palace,  ordered  to  bring  him  up  the  river  to  Lambeth,  as  the  first 
stage  of  his  journey,  that  if  he  would  only  be  advised  by  their 
counsel  and  yield  a  little,  they  would  not  let  him  "  sustain  any 
open  shame."  "  They  knew  him,"  continued  his  friendly  guard, 
"  to  be  an  eloquent,  learned  young  man,  young  in  years  but  old 

'  Foxe,  V.  9. 


2i6  The  English  Reformatio7i.  [ad.  1533. 

in  knowledge,  and  of  great  forwardness  and  likelihood  to  be  a 
most  profitable  member  of  this  realm."  If  he  yielded  somewhat, 
well ;  if  he  stood  stiff,  they  could  not  save  him,  for  "  like  as  you 
have  good  friends,  so-  you  have  mortal  foes  and  enemies."  But 
Frith  believed  that  conscience  bound  him  to  stand  by  his 
opinion  respecting  the  Mass,  at  whatever  cost,  and  gently  waived 
aside  the  well-meant  counsel. 

From  Lambeth  the  road  lay  through  the  thick  woods  that  then 
stretched  on  each  side  of  Brixton  Causeway,  and  along  this 
Frith  now  set  out  with  two  guards,  to  Croydon  ;  but  as  they  went 
on,  the  anxiety  of  Cromwell  and  Cranmer  that  he  should  escape 
was  once  more  shown.  It  had  been  arranged  that  he  was  to  be 
let  slip  unnoticed  into  the  woods  on  the  side  of  the  road  next 
Kent,  his  native  county,  whence  he  might  get  off  to  the  Conti- 
nent, while  the  search  for  him  would  be  made  in  the  woods  on 
the  other  side.  But,  wisely  or  not,  he  would  not  avail  himself 
of  the  friendly  proposal.  "  If  I  should  now  run  away,"  said  he, 
"  I  should  run  from  my  God,  and  from  the  testimony  of  His 
Holy  Word — worthy,  then  of  a  thousand  hells."  So  he  willingly 
fared  on  into  the  jaws  of  death,  to  bear  witness  for  Christ. 

Cranmer  was  in  a  painful  position,  for  he  still  held  the  Romish 
doctrine  in  all  its  strictness,  as  is  incidentally  and  beyond  chal- 
lenge shown  even  by  his  private  correspondence.^ 

To  tolerate  religious  opinions  not  their  own  was  then  held  a 
crime  by  Reformers  and  Romanists  alike,  as  it  is  by  Romanists 
still.  More,  alone,  had  even  theorized  about  toleration,  and  he  had 
flagrantly  contradicted  his  theory  by  his  practice.  The  primate's 
gentle  and  tender  nature,  indeed,  shrank  from  condemning 
Frith,  and  led  him  to  send  for  him  "  three  or  four  times  to  per- 
suade him  to  leave  his  imagination."  But  he  fancied  that  God 
had  *'  delivered  him  into  the  hands  of  the  bishops "  that  he 
might  maintain  the  truth  before  them,  and  could  not  be  brought 
to  yield  in  the  least,  so  that  for  Cranmer  as  well  as  himself  there 

i  See  his  letter  to  Joachim  Vadian  (1537),  in  Zurich  Letters,  ir. 


A.a  1533]  The  Forlorn  Hope  of  Freedom.  217 

was  no  escape.     He  was,  therefore,  necessarily  left  for  further 
examination  and  trial. ^ 

On  the  the  20th  June,  1533,  while  all  mouths  were  full  of  the 
splendours  of  Anne  Boleyn's  coronation,  just  three  weeks  before. 
Frith  was  brought  before  Stokesley,  Bishop  of  London,  Longland, 
of  Lincoln,  and  Gardiner,  of  Winchester,  his  old  college  tutor  at 
Cambridge — all  men  fierce  to  the  death  against  the  new  opinions, 
though,  possibly  Gardiner  may,  in  this  case,  have  felt  inclined  to 
mercy.  But  Frith's  unbending  steadfastness  and  their  own 
alarm  at  the  spirit  of  the  times,  quickened,  no  doubt,  by  their 
acting  in  the  present  case  by  special  directions  from  Henry — 
left  room  for  only  one  issue.  Any  tenderness  would  have  meant 
their  own  death,  for  the  reign  of  terror  set  up  by  the  king  had 
now  cowed  all  men  for  the  time  ;  even  the  highest  feeling  that 
their  property  and  lives  were  at  his  disposal ;  while  not  a  few 
were  praying  God  that  He  "  would  not  allow  this  tyranny  much 
longer."^  Frith's  wife  had  sent  him  word  from  Antwerp,  "that 
she  was  well  content  wiih  the  will  of  God,  and  would  not,  for  her 
sake,  have  the  glory  of  God  hindered,"  and  Tyndale  who,  even 
before  his  long  exile,  had  known  and  loved  him,  wrote  him — if, 
indeed,  he  received  the  letter — "  There  falleth  not  a  hair  till  the 
hour  be  come,  and  when  it  has  come,  necessity  carries  us  hence, 
though  we  be  not  willing.  But  if  we  be  willing,  then  have  we  a 
reward  and  thanks.  Let  Bilney  be  a  warning  to  you.  Let  not 
your  body  faint.  Let  no  persuasions  of  worldly  wisdom  bear 
rule  in  your  heart ;  no,  though  they  be  your  friends  that  counsel 
you.  He  that  endureth  to  the  end  shall  be  saved.  If  the  pain 
be  above  your  strength,  remember,  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in 
my  name,  I  will  give  it  to  you.     And  pray  to  your  Father,  in 

*  This  narrative  is  given  in  full  in  Foxe,  viii.  695 — 698. 

*  See  letter  of  Hilles  to  BuUinger,  1541,  in  Zurich  Letters,  207. 

*  Ibid.,  215.  Mr.  Green  charges  Cromwell  with  having  set  up  the  reign 
of  terror,  but  if  so,  why  was  it  more  awful  after  Cromwell's  murder  than 
in  his  lifetime,  and  how  did  the  men  of  the  day  trace  it  to  Henry  him< 
self? 


2 1 8  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1533. 

that  name,  and  He  shall  ease  your  pain,  or  shorten  it."  *  It  was 
not  doubtful  how  one  so  steadfast  would  act,  and  so  Frith  had 
to  die. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  the  last  scene  filled  Smithfield  with  a 
wondering  crowd.  With  Frith,  a  poor  young  Kentish  lad,  an 
apprentice  tailor  in  London,  was  to  suffer,  and  nobly  did  both 
of  them  bear  the  flames.  Frith's  book  had  converted  his  fellow 
martyr,  and  he  had  bravely  told  the  bishops  that  as  to  recanting, 
he  would  do  as  Frith  did,  thus  deliberately  choosing  to  die. 
Cranmer  had  written  to  a  friend,  three  days  before,  that  he  "  had 
sent  for  Frith  three  or  four  times  to  persuade  him  to  leave  the 
imagination  "  for  which  he  thus  gave  his  life,  "  but  for  all  that 
we  could  do,  he  would  not  apply  to  any  counsel.  Notwith- 
standing, now,  he  is  at  a  final  end  with  all  examinations  ;  for 
my  Lord  of  London  hath  given  sentence,  and  delivered  him  to 
the  secular  power,  when  he  looketh  every  day  to  go  into  the  fire. 
And  there  is  also  condemned  with  him  one  Andrew,  a  tailor,  for 
the  self-same  opinion."  A  few  years  later  and  Cranmer  was  to 
be  Frith's  disciple,  and  within  twenty  years  another  fire  was  to 
blaze  under  the  walls  of  Oxford,  and  the  hand  that  now  wrote 
thus,  was  to  blacken  in  its  flames,  as  the  penalty  for  the  same 
**  imagination  "  for  which  Frith  and  the  poor  London  tailor  now 
suffered.  But  Frith's  noblest  vindication  was  to  follow  when 
the  Fathers  of  the  Anglican  Church  left  a  monument  of  their 
sorrow  for  the  shedding  of  his  innocent  blood,  in  the  order  of  the 
Communion  Service,  which  closes  with  the  very  words  on  which 
Cranmer,  with  his  brother  bishops,  had  sat  in  judgment.  "  The 
natural  body  and  blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ  are  in  heaven,  and 
not  here,  it  being  against  the  truth  of  Christ's  natural  body  to 
be  at  one  time  in  more  places  than  one."  The  argument,  and 
the  words  in  which  it  is  expressed,  are  Frith's.'^ 

•  Foxe,  V.  132. 
Froude,  i.  479.      This  may  be  seen  in  Foxe's  intensely  interesting 
account  of  Frith's  case,  vol.  v.  i — 17. 


AD.  IS33]  TJie  Forlorn  Hope  of  Freedom.  219 

So,  in  these  years,  all  over  England,  went  on  the  battle  for 
human  freedom.  Men  of  low  degree  and  men  of  whom  the 
universities  were  proud  fought  it  for  us  with  a  like  heroism, 
though  they  knew  beforehand  that  we  must  pass  over  their 
bodies  to  victory.  But  there  could  be  no  question  of  that 
victory  in  the  end,  for  fidelity,  even  to  death,  was  a  protest  for 
the  truth  and  against  error,  which  carried  with  it  an  invincible 
grandeur,  no  less  weakening  the  enemies  of  Ught  than  it  mightily 
increased  its  friends. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  POPE*  FINALLY  DISOWNED. 


THE  divorce  of  Catharine  and  the  marriage  of  Anne  Boleyn, 
were  steps  so  grave  that  no  one  knew  what  would  be 
the  result.  Pope  Clement  threatened  to  launch  all  Europe 
against  Henry,  and  the  Emperor  was  as  fierce.^  The  Pope  was 
furious  at  the  completeness  of  the  apparent  defection  from  him, 
for  even  the  clergy  had  voted  for  the  divorce  by  263  votes  to  19, 
and  Fisher  alone  stood  out  against  it  among  the  bishops. 

Every  one,  however,  felt  that  this  outward  compliance  with 
Henry's  imperious  will,  hid  a  deep-seated  opposition  to  the  course 
on  which  he  had  entered.  At  heart,  the  mass  of  the  clergy  and 
all  the  monks  and  friars  were  still  for  the  Pope,  and  might  be 
expected  to  use  their  influence  for  the  old  state  of  things.  The 
Roman  Consistory  hastened  to  pronounce  the  new  marriage  in- 
valid, and  to  order  Anne  to  be  put  away,  and  this  decree  was 
sent  to  be  posted  up  at  Dunkirk.  Henry  could  not  tell  that  the 
ground  would  not  sink  from  under  his  feet  at  the  next  step  he 
might  take. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  20th  June,  Anne  was  crowned,  while  Frith 
lay  waiting  death  three  weeks  later.  There  never  had  been  such 
a  day  for  pageants  and  festivities.  It  was  well  for  the  new 
queen  that  the  future  was  hidden  from  her. 

*  Herbert,  385.     Strype,  L  45. 


A.D.  IS33]  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  221 

On  the  7th  of  September,  the  hope  that  Henry  had  cherished 
of  a  son,  was  once  more  dashed  by  the  birth  of  a  daughter — • 
afterwards  Queen  EHzabeth — and  though  she  was  presently 
created  Princess  of  Wales,  the  disappointment  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  the  unhappy  mother's  loss  of  favour.  Yet,  for  the  time, 
things  promised  well  for  the  New  Opinions.  With  Cranmer  and 
Cromwell  supported  by  Anne,  the  Reformers  took  heart,  and, 
indeed,  in  too  many  cases,  let  their  zeal  outrun  their  discretion. 
Latimer  was  preaching  boldly  at  Bristol,  but  the  priests  got  a 
prohibition  against  his  doing  so  in  the  diocese  of  Worcester,  and 
his  friends  and  opponents  came  to  such  fierce  and  protracted 
controversy,  that  Cromwell  had  to  interfere  to  preserve  the 
peace. 

On  the  news  of  the  sentence  by  the"  Pope,  Henry  at  once 
answered  by  an  appeal  to  a  General  Council,  which,  in  itself,  was 
a  direct  attack  on  the  Papal  claims.  Bonner  and  Gardiner  were 
then  at  Marseilles,  to  which  the  Pope  had  come  to  marry  his 
niece  Catherine  de  Medici — the  future  planner  of  the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew — to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  handed  Henry's 
appeal  to  his  Holiness.  With  it,  also,  they  delivered  a  second  of 
the  same  kind  from  Cranmer,  and  Bonner  followed  them  up  with 
more  than  his  wonted  audacity. 

Meanwhile  the  Pope  had  succeeded  in  breaking  up  the 
close  alliance  of  England  and  France.  The  reception  of  Anne 
Boleyn  by  Francis  in  the  autumn  before  had  identified  him  with 
Henry's  cause,  and  had  been  the  ratification  of  an  agreement 
between  the  two,  that,  if  the  divorce  were  not  granted,  France 
and  England  should  together  secede  from  Rome.  Henceforth 
this  was  not  to  be.  Francis  continued  friendly  in  a  faint  way,  but 
there  was  no  more  talk  of  joint  secession.  England  was  to  pass 
through  successive  stages  into  a  Protestant  nation ;  France  to  go 
on  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  the  Great  Revolution,  and  the  Worship  of  Voltaire. 

But  the  farce  was  not  even  yet  played  out.  In  December, 
three  months  after   Elizabeth's  birth,  Henry  was   induced  by 


222  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1534. 

Francis,  from  whatever  motive,  to  send  a  declaration  to  the  Pope 
that  if  he  would  not  finally  pass  sentence  on  him,  he  would  not 
withdraw  from  the  Holy  See  till  impartial  judges  had  examined 
his  cause.  Clement  agreed  to  this  proposal,  if  an  authentic  copy 
of  it  reached  him  by  the  20th  of  March.  A  courier  was  forth- 
with sent  off  with  one,  but,  happening  to  be  detained  two  days 
beyond  the  time,  the  cardinals  of  the  imperial  faction  insisted 
on  sentence  being  passed  at  once.  Thus  Rome,  by  her  indecent 
haste,  had  finally  thrust  England  from  her,  and  the  rupture  which 
seemed  so  likely  to  be  avoided,  was  at  last  forced  on  Henry.  With 
Imperialists  illuminating  Rome ;  cannon  firing,  and  bonfires 
blazing  to  celebrate  the  Pope's  final  verdict ;  with  himself 
declared  excommunicated,  and  his  subjects  freed  from  allegiance, 
and  with  the  Emperor  engaging  to  invade  England  if  obedience 
to  the  Papal  commands  were  not  paid  within  four  monhs,  Henry 
could  only  go  on  and  complete  the  Revolution  already  so  far 
advanced. 

The  insincerity  of  the  clergy  and  religious  orders  in  voting 
Catherine's  marriage  invalid  was,  in  the  meantime,  showing 
itself  in  dangerous  ways,  for  well-nigh  every  pulpit  and  cross  in 
the  land  resounded  with  the  coarsest  attacks  on  Queen  Anne, 
and  bitter  denunciations  of  the  treatment  of  her  "  incomparable" 
rival.^  Cranmer  had,  therefore,  to  forbid  all  preaching  for  a 
time,  and  warned  the  bishops  to  enforce  the  order.  The  posi- 
tion of  things  was  indeed  fit  to  appal  him,  and  amply  justified 
his  unwillingness  to  accept  promotion.  In  safe  obscurity 
before,  his  advancement  to  the  primacy  had  created  bitter 
enemies,  bent  on  thwarting  his  designs,  and,  if  it  might  be,  on 
bringing  him  to  ruin.  Gardiner,  of  Winchester,  six  years  his 
senior,  the  illegitimate  son  of  a  bishop,  was  indignant  that  a  mere 
king's  chaplain  should  have  been  raised  above  himself,  who 
already  was  a  bishop  and  Secretary  of  State,  and  had  been  long 
employed  in  the  king's  service  abroad  and  at  home.    With  such 

*  Ellis's  Original  Letters.     First  series,  vol.  ii.  42,  &c. 


A.D.  1534]  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  223 

a  man  for  a  deadly  foe,  Cranmer  knew  he  would  have  trouble 
and  even  danger,  for  though  he  had  been  a  strong  supporter  of 
the  divorce,  and  one  of  Catherine's  judges,  Gardiner  was 
bitterly  opposed  to  all  reformation.  With  great  abilities,  exten- 
sive knowledge  of  State  affairs,  and  high  reputation  as  an 
ecclesiastical  lawyer,  he  was  ambitious,  revengeful,  and  wholly 
unscrupulous.  His  theory  of  the  Church,  for  the  time,  was  the 
maintenance  of  the  priestly  system,  with  its  exclusive  claims 
and  its  ghostly  powers,  in  all  their  completeness,  official  connec- 
tion with  Rome  excepted,  as  not  possible  for  the  moment.  His 
cunning  was  well  supported  by  tact,  and  both  were  made 
dangerous  by  his  tenacity.  Henceforth,  his  career  was  a  long 
intrigue  to  advance  himself  and  his  party,  and  to  undo  all  that 
opposed  either.  Cranmer,  Anne,  Cromwell,  and,  in  the  end  of 
Henry's  reign.  Queen  Catherine  Parr,  found  him  their  mortal 
enemy,  because  of  their  favouring  Protestantism.  He  brought 
Cromwell  to  the  block,  and  would  have  done  the  same  with 
Cranmer  and  the  last  queen,  but  for  Henry's  acuteness.  Anne 
Boleyn  also  may  be  numbered  among  his  victims.  The  burn- 
ings of  "heretics,"  after  his  return  from  Italy  in  153 1,  were 
mainly  due  to  his  goading  Henry  to  show  his  orthodoxy  by 
such  proofs.  He  would  not  hear  of  the  Bible  being  circulated 
in  English,  nor  of  any  abatement  whatever  of  the  worst  corrup- 
tions of  the  old  Church  system.  It  was  believed,  in  fact,  that 
he  had  been  secretly  reconciled  to  the  Pope,  and  had  admitted 
Henry's  supremacy  only  in  form,  which  seems  more  than  likely, 
since  he  at  once  became  the  great  champion  of  Rome,  when 
the  chance  oflFered,  under  Queen  Mary. 

Nor  can  we  adequately  realize,  at  this  distance  of  time,  the 
perilous  convulsion  through  which  society  was  then  passing,  by 
the  rupture  of  the  national  relations  with  the  Pope.  Cranmer 
felt  that  the  winds  had  been  let  loose,  and  no  one  knew  what 
might  not  perish  in  the  wild  storm.  The  supremacy  of  the 
Pope,  however  disputed  in  statutes,  had  for  centuries  been 
accepted  as  a  fundamental  principle  of  religion.  Wherever  it 
11 


224  I^Ji^  English  Reformation.         fad.  152S-1534. 

had  been  challenged  on  the  Continent,  society  had  been  well- 
nigh  dissolved,  and  the  future  was  even  darker  than  the  present. 
The  English  throne,  moreover,  had  risen  to  an  unchecked 
despotism,  before  which,  since  the  days  of  Henry  VIL,  neither 
the  courts  nor  Parliament,  now  cowed  into  slavish  compliance, 
were  any  protection.  The  fall  of  Wolsey  had  struck  terror  into 
all  hearts ;  for  if  the  property  and  life  of  one  so  great  were  at 
the  mercy  of  a  royal  word,  no  one  was  safe.  Cranmer,  gentle, 
kindly,  patient,  forgiving,  and  only  too  often  wanting  in  firm- 
ness, had  to  guide  the  Church  as  he  best  might  beneath  a 
sword  hung  over  him  by  a  hair. 

An  incident  now  occurred  which  showed  the  perils  of  the 
times.  So  long  as  nine  years  before  this,  that  is  in  1525,  a 
girl  at  Canterbury  had  been  declared  the  subject  of  miraculous 
visions  and  revelations,  "  by  the  power  of  God  and  our  Lady," 
and  a  very  profitable  business  had  been  done  by  the  priests  ever 
since,  from  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  England 
who  resorted  to  her,  to  see  one  so  highly  favoured.  The  poor 
girl  was  in  fact  epileptic,  but,  under  the  manipulation  of  some 
priests,  she  unfortunately  took  advantage  of  this  misfortune  to 
carry  out  a  system  of  deception  which  in  the  end  grew  to  be  a 
political  danger.  She  was  reported  to  have  trances,  and  to 
have  seen  in  them  many  strange  visions  and  revelations,  of 
heaven,  hell,  and  purgatory,  and  had  spoken  much  in  confirma- 
tion of  pilgrimages,  trentals,^  hearing  masses,  and  confession, 
and  many  such  things.  In  her  discourses  on  these  a  voice  was 
heard  coming  from  her  body — that  is,  she  used  ventriloquism  to 
work  on  the  credulity  of  her  audience.  After  a  time  she  had 
become  a  nun,  at  Canterbury,  and  her  revelations  had  proceeded 
to  discuss  the  king's  marriage,  the  great  heresies  and  scliisms 
m  the  land,  and  the  injuries  done  to  the  liberty  of  the  Church. 
She  had  even  written  to  the  Pope  and  to  Wolsey,  calling  on 
them  in  the  name  of  God  to  stop  the  marriage  with  Anne 

*  Thirty  masses  for  the  dead,  said  on  thirty  successive  days. 


A.D.  1534.]  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  225 

Boleyn,  if  they  would  avoid  divine  vengeance.  Mary  Magdalen 
was  said  to  have  sent  her  a  letter  from  heaven,  written  in  golden 
characters.  At  last  she  had  ventured  to  predict  that  Henry 
would  not  live  six  months  after  his  new  marriage ;  that  a  plague 
beyond  any  before  would  be  sent  on  England,  and  that  the 
king  should  then  be  destroyed. 

It  marks  the  superstition  of  the  age  and  the  inflammable 
state  of  public  feeling  that  the  ravings  of  this  impostor  obtained 
wide  popularity.  Not  only  Wolsey,  but  Warham,  More,  Fisher, 
and  many  others  of  note  listened  to  her,  more  or  less,  while  not 
only  all  Kent,  but  well-nigh  all  England,  was  excited  about  her. 
But  the  monks,  under  whose  pupilage  she  acted,  were  to  find 
that  they  had  carried  their  imposture  too  far,'  for  a  preliminary 
inquiry  was  ordered,  and  the  matter  was  brought  before  Parlia- 
ment at  its  sitting,  in  January,  1534. 

The  first  act  of  the  new  session  had  reference  to  the  social 
evils  of  the  times,  and  explains  much  that  has  been  unjustly  as- 
cribed to  the  changes  in  religion.  The  old  troubles  between  the 
peasantry  and  the  landowners,  which  had  disturbed  England  for 
centuries,  were  growing  more  embittered.  In  15 14,  a  petition 
had  been  presented  to  Henry  to  consider  the  dearness  and 
scarcity  of  all  food,  which  increased  daily,  "  from  the  great  and 
covetous  misusage  of  farms.  Gentlemen,  merchants,  adven- 
turers, clothworkers,  goldsmiths,  butchers,  tanners,  and  others, 
were  striving  to  buy  up  more  land  than  they  could  cultivate. 
Some  held  as  many  as  sixteen  farms,  on  each  of  which  there  used 
to  be  good  houses,  and  from  three  to  six  ploughs."  "When  each 
man  had  one  farm,"  the  petitioners  went  on  to  say,  "  and  culti- 
vated that  well,  food  was  plenty  and  cheap,  for  man  and  beast, 
but  *  the  engrossers '  had  made  a  great  change.  Where  there 
had  been  a  town  of  twenty  or  thirty  houses,  they  were  now 
decayed,  and  all  the  people  clean  gone,  and  the  churches  down." 
An  Act  had  accordingly  been  passed  to  remedy  this  evil,  but,  like 

'  See  Cranmer's  account,  Strype,  i.  337. 


226  TJu  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1534. 

all  attempts  to  legislate  against  inevitable  change,  it  proved  a 
failure.  A  second  act  was  passed  in  1516,  and  now,  in  1534,  a 
third.  Many,  it  was  said,  "  fell  daily  to  theft,  robbery,  or  other 
inconvenience,  or  pitifully  died  of  hunger  and  cold,  while  a 
single  farmer  kept  as  many  as  twenty-four  thousand  sheep." 
Widespread  misery,  in  fact,  prevailed  throughout  the  shires  ; 
multitudes,  turned  out  of  their  houses,  wandered  hither  and  thither 
starving,  and  not  a  few,  in  their  desperation,  took  to  robbery  and 
violence.  In  spite  of  pitiless  severity  crime  had  never  so  abounded. 

The  affair  of  the  Nun  of  Kent  was  next  discussed,  and  speedily 
settled.  The  unfortunate  woman  herself,  and  six  monks  who 
had  been  the  chief  agents  in  her  impostures,  were  sentenced  to 
death,  and  were  hanged  at  Tyburn,  on  the  20th  April.  More 
and  Fisher  had  been  arrested  for  "  misprision  of  treason  "  in  con- 
nection with  the  matter — that  is,  for  having  known  and  yet  con- 
cealed the  treason,  but  More  was  pardoned,  through  the  kind 
offices  of  Cromwell,  on  his  explaining  the  circumstances  of  his 
relations  to  the  nun.  Fisher,  on  the  other  hand,  refusing  to 
express  any  regret,  was  sentenced,  with  Catherine's  confessor,  to 
forfeiture  of  goods  and  imprisonment.  Others  who  had  been 
implicated  were  pardoned  at  the  intercession  of  Queen  Anne, 
and  Fisher,  whom  Henry  was  unwilling  to  injure,  was  left  at 
liberty.  A  movement  which  had  threatened  to  lead  to  a  general 
rising  was  thus  happily  crushed.  The  friars  who  were  to  have 
stirred  up  the  people  everywhere  to  revolt,  at  a  signal  given  by 
the  nun,  found  themselves  discovered  and  watched,  and  even 
Catherine  and  her  daughter,  who  had  linked  themselves  with  the 
plot,  in  the  hope  of  driving  Anne  from  her  position,  felt  them- 
selves compromised.  Mary,  indeed,  was  transferred  to  the 
household  of  the  young  princess  Elizabeth,  to  keep  her  from 
further  tampering  with  her  father's  enemies. 

Meanwhile  the  Revolution  advanced  rapidly  under  the  king's 
dictation  and  Cromwell's  leadership.  On  the  9th  March,  while 
the  courier  was  on  his  way  to  Rome,  bearing  Henry's  submission 
to  the  Pope,  a  bill  was  introduced  severing  for  ever  all  connection 


A.D.  is.uJ  The  Pope  Finally  Disowtted.  227 

with  Rome,  and  it  was  passed  on  the  20th,  without  a  division. 
By  this  Act  all  payments  of  any  kind  to  Rome  were  made 
illegal.  The  stream  of  wealth  thus  cut  off  from  the  Italian 
court  had  flowed,  deep  and  full,  for  centuries,  but  henceforth 
was  dried  up  at  the  source. 

The  payment  to  the  Pope  of  the  first  year's  income  of  all 
benefices  and  dioceses,  which  had  already  been  conditionally 
forbidden,  was  definitely  prohibited  ;  the  payment  of  the  Pope's 
tithes ;  the  heavy  consecration  fees  at  each  bishop's  instal- 
lation ;  the  vast  sums  spent  on  appeals  to  the  Roman  courts ; 
those  given  for  dispensations  of  all  kinds — to  marry  within  for- 
bidden degrees,  to  admit  a  priest's  son  to  a  benefice,  to  break  an 
oath,  and  a  hundred  things  besides ;  the  taxes  levied  by  legates  ; 
the  fees  paid  at  the  death  of  bishops ;  the  huge  sums  paid  for 
infinite  sorts  of  rules,  briefs,  and  instruments  of  many  kinds ; 
the  payment  of  Peter's  pence  ;  and  payments  for  provisions, 
pensions,  and  bulls,  were  all  things  of  the  past.^ 

All  judicial  connection  with  Rome  had  been  already  severed 
by  the  Act  forbidding  appeals,  and  now  all  financial  connection 
with  it  was  likewise  ended,  and  the  Revolution,  so  far,  stood 
complete.  To  make  it  formally  so,  the  act  further  proceeded 
to  take  away  all  power  from  the  Pope  in  England.  He  had 
claimed  to  set  aside  the  law  of  Scripture,  in  order  to  uphold 
Catherine's  marriage,  and  to  ignore  the  laws  of  the  land  when- 
ever he  chose  to  consider  them  as  trenching  on  his  ecclesiastical 
rights.  It  was  now,  therefore,  enacted  that "  as  none  could  dispense 
with  the  laws  of  God,  so  the  king  and  Parliament  alone  could 
dispense  with  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  that  all  licenses  or 
dispensations  formerly  in  use  should  for  the  future  be  granted 
by  the  two  archbishops."  All  powers  claimed  by  the  Bishop  of 
Rome  within  the  realm  were  henceforward  to  cease,  and  be 
transferred  to  the  crown.  But  that  the  Pope  might  have  time  to 
yield  if  he  chose,  three  months  were  allowed  before  the  Act 
should  come  into  force. 

*  Fuller's  Church  History,  ii.  64. 


228  The  English  Reformation,  [ad.  1534. 

With  all  this  revolutionary  legislation,  however,  there  was  so 
little  idea  of  any  change  in  religion  itself  that  the  Commons 
took  care  to  declare  that  they  did  not  intend  to  alter  any  article 
of  the  Catholic  faith  of  Christendom.  They  meant  to  retain 
their  spiritual  relation  to  the  Pope  while  independent  of  him  in 
everything  political  and  self-governing  as  a  Church  :  to  separate, 
as  I  have  already  said,  from  the  Court,  but  not  from  the  Church  of 
Rome.  One  clause  in  this  great  Act  was  of  supreme  importance 
for  the  future  in  another  direction.  All  the  exemptions  enjoyed 
by  monasteries  were  continued,  but  they  were  made  subject  to 
the  king's  visitation,  and  power  was  given  him  to  examine  and 
reform  all  indulgences  and  privileges  they  enjoyed.  Its  passing 
was  their  doom. 

An  Act  fixing  the  succession  to  the  throne  was  only  a 
necessary  sequel  to  the  king's  marriage  with  Anne,  to  prevent 
the  risk  of  a  future  civil  war.  Such  a  statute  was  passed 
accordingly,  but  an  extension  of  the  law  of  treason  was  added 
to  it  worthy  of  an  Oriental  despotism.  All  were  required  to 
swear  to  it,  and  the  refusal  to  do  so,  or  even  the  utterance  of  a 
chance  word  "to  the  slander  of  the  marriage,"  was  made  a 
capital  offence.  The  confusion  and  dangers  of  the  time  might 
excuse  anxiety  to  guard  against  disloyalty,  but  only  a  slavish 
Parliament  and  a  king  who  reigned  by  terror  could  have 
sanctioned  a  law  so  vague  and  so  ensnaring. 

The  tyranny  of  the  Church  courts  had  long  outraged  the 
nation,  but  a  special  instance  of  cruelty  on  the  part  of  Stokesley, 
Bishop  of  London,  at  last  brought  some  abatement  of  it. 
Hitherto  the  bishops  could  commit  any  one  on  the  mere  sus- 
picion of  heresy,  which  was  very  loosely  defined.  Henceforth, 
no  one  was  to  be  committed  on  such  a  charge  except  on  a  pre- 
sentment made  by  two  witnesses  :  none  were  to  be  accused  for 
speaking  against  matters  grounded  only  on  the  Canon  or  Church 
law:  bail  was  to  be  taken  for  the  accused,  and  they  were  to  be  tried 
in  open  court.  Relapsed  heretics,  who  would  not  recant,  were 
still,  however,  to  be  burned,  on  the  king's  writ  being  obtained. 


AD,  iS3«.]  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  229 

The    public  mind   was    more    and  more  revolting  from  the 
cruelty  of  the  bishops. 

The  great  Act  forbidding  all  future  payments  to  Rome 
embodied  details  of  the  highest  moment  on  other  points,  for  it 
rendered  necessary  a  change  in  the  mode  of  nominating  bishops 
to  vacant  sees.  No  question  had  been  more  hotly  disputed  in 
the  past  between  the  popes  and  the  crown,  until  it  was  fixed 
by  the  Statute  of  Provisors,  passed  in  1 3  5 1 ,  under  Edward  III., 
that  "  the  king  and  other  lords  shall  present  unto  benefices  of 
their  own  or  their  ancestors'  foundation,  and  not  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,"  and  this  had  been  confirmed  in  1389,  by  a  statute  of 
Richard  II.  From  these  dates  the  only  power  exercised  by  the 
popes  in  the  election  of  bishops  had  been  through  the  bulls 
needed  for  their  consecration.  In  Cranmer's  case  there  had  been 
eleven  of  these,  each  charged  at  lawyer's  prices,  and  had  these 
been  withheld  it  would  have  kept  the  see  unfilled. 

The  mode  of  election  had,  however,  with  this  abatement,  been 
long  exactly  what  it  is  now.  The  king  issued  a  mock  permission 
to  the  Cathedral  Chapter  to  choose  a  bishop,  but  required  them 
to  accept  the  person  named  by  him,  under  penalty  of  a  premunire, 
in  case  they  delayed  beyond  twenty  days — a  course  the  only 
palliation  of  which  was  its  practical  working. 

A  sequel  was  now  added  to  the  Act  which  abolished  pay- 
ments to  Rome,  dispensing  thencefor^vard  with  any  bulls  from 
the  Pope  in  episcopal  elections,  and  restricting  the  details  of 
choice  and  consecration  exclusively  to  England.  "  The  Bishop 
of  Rome"  was  not  to  be  asked,  thenceforth,  for  palls,  or  bulls, 
or  in  any  way  recognized  in  this  matter. 

Many  English  bishoprics  had,  till  now,  been  given  by  the  kings 
to  Italian  cardinals,  as  bribes  for  their  influence  at  Rome.  Thus, 
those  of  Salisbury  and  Worcester  were  now  held  by  Cardinals 
Campeggio  and  Ghinucci,  who,  residing  permanently  in  Italy — to 
use  Gibbon's  words  in  another  case — never  forgot  they  had  a 
salary  to  receive,  but  only  that  they  had  a  duty  to  perform. 
These  sees  were  now  declared  vacant,  to  be  filled,  after  a  time, 


230  The  English  Reformation.  [ad-  1534- 

through  Queen  Anne's  influence,  by  two  reforming  bishops, 
Shaxton  and  Latimer.  Their  election  when  it  came  was  a  great 
help  to  Cranmer,  and  Cromwell  could  breathe  more  freely  when 
he  had  at  least  some  sympathy  on  the  episcopal  bench. 

The  hollowness  of  the  submission  of  the  Church  had  been 
strikingly  seen,  though  seven  bishops  and  fourteen  abbots  had 
sat  in  Parliament,  but  the  revolution  went  on  in  spite  of  all 
opposition,  Henry  had  even  let  a  play  be  acted  before  him  in 
which  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals  were  ridiculed,  and  a  bishop 
had  preached  every  Sunday  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  that  the  Pope 
had  now  no  authority  in  England.  Convocation,  also,  was 
forthwith  to  receive  another  humiliation,  of  which  its  members 
were  themselves  required  to  be  the  agents.  An  Act  dictated  by 
the  king,  was  presented  to  them,  and  of  course  passed,  cancelling 
all  causes  ecclesiastical  in  any  way  contrary  to  the  statute  law 
or  the  king's  prerogative.  Quietly  done,  it  was  yet  the  close  of 
a  struggle  between  Rome  and  England  that  had  lasted  for 
centuries.  Henceforward  the  civil  authority  stood  supreme  in 
the  land  over  both  clergy  and  laity.  The  reign  of  the  Church 
as  an  independent  power,  side  by  side  with  that  of  the  Crown, 
had  followed  the  rule  of  the  Pope,  in  its  fall,  and  Cromwell  could 
congratulate  Henry  that  there  was,  at  last,  only  one  law  and  one 
king  in  England. 

Latimer,  now  a  great  popular  favourite,  had  come  to  London 
in  the  early  spring,  from  his  Wiltshire  rectory,  to  preach  before 
Henry  on  the  Wednesdays  during  Lent,^  thanks  to  Queen  Anne 
and  Cranmer,  and  was  thus  in  town  during  part  at  least  of  the 
sitting  of  Parliament,  much  to  the  mortification  of  his  old  enemy 
Stokesley. 

Commissioners  were  now  appointed  to  administer  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  new  succession,  "  at  the  pleasure  of  the  king," 
to  whom  they  thought  fit,  especially  the  priests  and  regulars.' 

*  February  2nd  to  April  1st. 

*  The  monks  and  friars  who  lived,  or  professed  to  live,  by  their  founder's 
rule — Latin,  regula. 


A.D.  153+]  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  231 

Deputy  commissioners  also  were  forthwith  added  for  different 
districts,  and  among  these  Latimer  was  sent  off  to  administer  the 
oath  in  the  west.  The  country  at  large  was  very  excited.  For 
four  years  back,  at  least,  every  one  had  been  discussing  the 
Pope's  power,  or  the  premunire  of  the  clergy,  and  now  there 
were  added  the  sweeping  Acts  of  the  last  session  of  Convoca- 
tion and  Parliament.  The  world  in  which  men  had  lived  was 
breaking  up  under  their  feet,  and  no  one  knew  what  would 
come  next.  Only  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  was  left ;  would 
Henry  dare  to  assail  that  ? 

But  the  times  were  too  grave  to  allow  hesitation,  and  the 
king's  spirit  was  roused  by  the  dangers  that  Rome  had 
threatened  to  bring  on  him.  Knowing  no  fear,  he  met  defiance 
with  defiance.  The  Act  cutting  off  all  payments  from  the  Pope 
and  all  connections  with  him  had  till  now  been  suspended,  but 
was  made  law  at  once.  Convocation  was  required  to  make  a 
declaration  that  the  Pope  had  no  more  power  in  England  than 
any  other  bishop.  The  Observant  Friars  at  Canterbury  and 
Greenwich,  who  had  been  especially  daring  in  their  disloyalty, 
had  their  houses  suppressed,  and  were  themselves  distributed  in 
different  monasteries,  where  they  could  be  watched.  The  fleet 
was  hurriedly  made  ready,  the  garrisons  on  the  coast  strength- 
ened, and  all  preparations  made  to  repel  any  hostile  force. 

Meanwhile,  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  to  the  new  succession 
was  sternly  administered,  and  taken  without  hesitation  by  most, 
though  it  carried  with  it  the  acceptance  of  the  whole  Revolu- 
tion. Strange  to  say,  even  the  clergy  and  abbots  made  no 
scruple ;  of  the  bishops,  only  Fisher  refused  it ;  of  the  laity, 
only  one  of  eminence — Sir  Thomas  More.  Both  Fisher  and 
More  were  willing  to  swear  loyalty  to  the  succession  as  appointed 
by  Parliament,  for  they  held  that  to  be  within  parliamentary 
power,  but  they  could  not  assent  to  the  invalidation  of  Cathe- 
rine's marriage,  which  carried  with  it  the  denial  of  the  divine 
power  of  the  Pope.'  The  scruples  of  Henry,  long  years  ago, 
»  Strype,  i.  337,  339. 


232  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1534^ 

had  kindled  an  ardour  for  the  Papacy  in  More  even  keener 
than  that  which  he  had  himself  once  sought  to  restrain  in  his 
master,  and  no  persuasion  could  induce  him  to  take  the  oath. 
Cranmer  and  Cromwell  alike  strove  to  move  him,  but  in  vain, 
and  the  former,  always  gentle  and  kindly,  finding  the  attempt 
hopeless,  sought  to  save  him  by  proposing  that  both  he  and 
Fisher  should  be  excused  taking  the  whole  oath,  since  they 
were  willing  to  swear  to  the  succession  itself.  But  he  pleaded 
with  one  who  had  neither  gratitude  nor  pity ;  one  to  whom  past 
services  only  seemed  to  justify  still  greater  demands,  and  whose 
appalling  self-worship  never  suspected  that  any  rights  but  his 
own  existed.  Cranmer  urged  that  the  support  of  two  such  men 
would  strengthen  the  new  succession  in  the  country  and  in 
Europe,  but  Henry  was  indignant  at  the  suggestion,  and  they 
were  ordered  to  be  committed  to  the  Tower.  More's  family 
were,  however,  left  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  property,  and 
Fisher's  bishopric  was  not  taken  from  him. 

But  whatever  his  personal  faults,  Henry  was  a  man  of 
splendid  abilities,  sustained  by  unconquerable  energy  and  reso- 
lution. In  such  a  crisis  few  could  have  led  England  with  equal 
success,  and  so  little  commotion.  The  threatened  invasion  by 
Charles  had  as  yet  been  only  an  alarm.  There  were,  indeed, 
rumours  of  troops  being  raised  for  it  in  Germany,  and  Ireland 
had  burst  into  rebellion.  It  would  be  of  benefit  to  embarrass 
the  Emperor  by  an  alliance  with  the  German  Lutherans,  and  an 
envoy  was  therefore  sent  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  to  sound 
him  on  the  subject.  But  Henry's  ideas  of  reformation  were  not 
those  of  the  Germans.  With  him  it  was  only  a  change  of  Pope 
with  a  more  hated  because  less  natural  tyranny  over  opinion. 
They  wanted  liberty  for  the  mind,  not  a  change  of  jailors,  and 
would  not  listen  to  his  overtures. 

It  was  on  the  last  day  of  March,  1534,  that  the  Acts  of  the 
secular  legislature  received  the  final  assent  of  Convocation, 
and  this  was  speedily  followed  by  declarations  and  sub- 
scriptions  from   the   Chapters,    the    Universities,    and    other 


iftD.  1534.]  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  233 

Ecclesiastical  Bodies,  to  the  effect  that  "  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
has  not  any  greater  jurisdiction  conferred  on  him  by  God  on 
this  realm  of  England  than  any  foreign  bishop."  Thus  Church 
and  State  formally  concurred  in  the  revolt  from  the  Papacy, 
and  in  the  abolition  of  every  trace  of  its  authority  among  us. 

The  established  clergy,  indeed,  had  acquiesced,  at  least  out- 
wardly, in  all  that  had  hitherto  been  done.  Several  bishoprics 
were  vacant,  in  consequence  of  the  quarrel  with  Rome,  but  six 
bishops  had  sanctioned  by  their  votes  every  blow  struck  at  the 
Church.  Fourteen  abbots  had  been  generally  present  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  though  the  number  of  temporal  peers  who 
attended  was  only  somewhat  over  forty.  Both  bishops  and 
abbots  had  reduced  Catherine's  title  to  that  of  Princess  Dow- 
ager of  Wales,  and  had  ratified  the  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn. 
The  Bill  to  subject  the  clergy  to  the  king  as  their  supreme 
head  had  been  read  three  times  in  one  day,  and  passed  without 
a  division.  After  the  vacancies  in  the  bishoprics  had  been 
filled  up,  sixteen  bishops  commonly  sat  in  the  House  without 
offering  opposition.  The  oath  had  been  taken  freely  by 
clergy  and  laity  alike.  The  universities  and  the  Convocation 
of  both  provinces  were  equally  for  the  king  and  against  the 
Pope,  so  far  as  votes  and  swearing  were  concerned. 

But  this  calm  was  only  on  the  surface.  Underneath,  the 
ecclesiastical  world  was  profoundly  disloyal.  The  idea  of  schism 
is  terrible  to  some  minds,  even  after  three  centuries,  but  in 
Henry's  day  it  seemed  utterly  subversive  of  all  religion,  as  the 
rending  of  the  seamless  robe  of  Christ ;  the  breaking  off  from 
the  true  vine ;  the  forsaking  of  that  divine  foundation — the 
chosen  rock — on  which  the  Church  had  been  built  by  Christ. 
It  appeared  impossible  to  the  mass  of  the  clergy  that  such  a 
state  of  things  could  continue.  They  might  comply,  under 
compulsion,  with  Henry's  commands  or  new  laws,  but  their 
hearts  were  with  Rome.  Hence  the  pulpits  and  the  confes- 
sional became,  everywhere,  centres  of  fierce  sedition,  which  it 
was  necessary  to  control.    All  licenses  to  preach  were,  there- 


234  ^^^^  English  Reformation.  [a.d,  1534- 

fore,  revoked,  till  friar  and  priest  alike  had  appeared  before  the 
bishops,  and,  after  taking  the  oath,  had  been  warned  not  to 
speak  against  the  king,  the  laws,  or  the  succession.  Spies  had 
long  been  employed  by  the  bishops  in  great  numbers  to  track 
the  poor  Reformers,  and  now  supplied  a  means  of  which 
Cromwell  freely  made  use,  to  expose  the  shortcomings  of 
ecclesiastics.  A  royal  proclamation  was  issued,  that  all 
manner  of  prayers,  rubrics,  canons  of  mass  books,  and  all 
other  books  wherein  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was  named,  should 
utterly  be  abolished,  eradicated,  and  rased  oiit,  and  his  name 
and  memory  never  more  be  remembered,  except  to  his  con- 
tumely and  reproach.  The  bishops  were  to  instruct  the  clergy, 
and  they  the  people,  respecting  the  changes  that  had  taken 
place.  A  sermon  was  to  be  preached  each  Sunday  at  St. 
Paul's  Cross,  on  the  Pope's  Usurpation,  and  every  pulpit  was 
to  enlighten  the  people,  week  after  week,  on  the  same  subject. 
All  who  had  authority,  and  even  the  heads  of  households,  were 
to  make  it  the  theme  of  conversation  with  those  under  them. 

Nor  was  it  left  to  any  one's  choice  to  do  so.  All  slieriffs 
were  required  to  see  the  royal  commands  duly  carried  out. 

But  the  instructions  of  the  king  were  not  limited  to  denuncia- 
tions of  the  Pope.  The  inevitable  widening  of  the  gulf  which 
had  opened  was  already  seen.  No  preacher  was,  henceforth, 
to  make  the  pulpit  a  safe  opportunity  for  vilifying  his  brethren, 
but  must  content  himself  with  "  preaching  the  Scripture  and 
words  of  Christ  purely,  sincerely,  and  justly,  not  mixing  them 
with  men's  institutions,  or  making  men  believe  that  the  force  of 
God's  law  and  man's  law  was  the  like."  Still  more,  on  purga- 
tory, the  worship  of  saints  and  relics,  the  marriage  of  the  clergy, 
justification  by  faith,  pilgrimages,  and  miracles,  they  were  to 
keep  silence  for  a  whole  year.^  To  help  bishops  and  priests 
alike,  the  details  of  these  "  injunctions  "  were  embodied  in  a 
printed  book  circulated  among  them. 

*  Burnet's  Collectanea,  p.  447. 


A.D.  isu-1  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  235 

For  the  moment,  the  Reformation  was  advancing  beyond 
merely  political  and  ecclesiastical  questions.  A  book  issued  to 
the  people,  under  the  name  of  "  Henry's  Primer,"  as  published 
with  his  authority,'  showed  a  freedom  in  dealing  with  Church 
matters  that  must  have  galled  men  like  Stokesley  and  Gardiner 
to  the  quick.  The  "  Primer  "  was,  in  effect ,  the  original  of  our 
English  Prayer  Book,  issued  for  the  first  time  by  authority. 

Such  Primers,  or  books  of  prayer  for  the  Hours  of  the 
Church,  from  Prime  onwards,  had  been  in  existence  for  cen- 
turies. A  manuscript  of  one  in  English  is  still  extant  of  the 
date  of  1430,'  But  it  must  have  been  an  exception  to  the  rule, 
for  it  is  the  only  Church  book  of  devotions  of  an  early  date  not 
in  Latin.  The  Church,  indeed,  had  enjoined  the  teaching  of 
the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the 
Hail,  Mary !  in  English,  even  from  the  days  of  Archbishop 
Egbert,  in  a.d.  731  ;  but  how  utterly  the  often-repeated  injunc- 
tion had  been  neglected  before  the  Reformation  was  only  too 
vividly  shown  by  the  multitudes  whom  bishops  like  Longland 
or  Fitzjames  himted  to  prison  or  the  stake,  for  no  other  crime 
than  knowing,  or  teaching  a  child,  either  one  or  the  other. 

The  Prymer  of  the  Salisbury  Use,  as  it  was  called,  was 
practically  the  only  one  in  circulation  when  the  King's  Primer 
was  published.  An  edition  of  it  had  been  pubUshed  in  Paris 
as  long  before  as  1490,  and  six  more  had  been  issued  up  to 
1 534}'  hut  the  book,  as  a  whole,  is  in  Latin,  with  verses  of 
English  rhyme  below  the  pictures  which  illustrate  it,  and  a  short 
English  addition  at  the  end — part  of  which,  called  "  The 
Psalter  of  Jesus,"  is  praised  as  invaluable,  from  its  repeating 
the  name  of  Jesus  355  times.  Hilsey,  Bishop  of  Rochester,* 
Latimer's  friend,  and  formerly  a  Black  Friar  at  Bristol,  had  been 

'  The  first  edition  was  published  in  1534.  There  is  a  copy  in  the 
Bodleian  Library,  at  Oxford,  but  not  in  the  British  Museum. 

'  Maskell's  Monumenta  Ritualia  Ecclesise  Anglicanse,  vol.  ii  46,  fT. 
*  See  the  editions  in  the  British  Museum  catalogue,  and  in  Lowndes 
«  Died  1538. 


236  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1534. 

set  by  Cromwell  to  draw  up  a  "  Manual  of  Prayers  "  at  a  very 
early  date,  though  it  was  not  published  till  1539,  after  Hilsey's 
death.  In  the  preface,  however,  the  bishop  characterizes  the 
"  sundry  and  divers  sorts  of  Primers  heretofore  set  forth  "  as 
being  "  in  many  things  superstitious  and  derogatory  to  the  true 
honour  of  God,"  a  verdict  which  the  Official  Primer  of  1534 
incidentally  illustrates  and  confirms,  by  condemning  "  certain 
prayers  "  in  them,  "  to  be  made  before  the  image  of  our  Lady 
of  Pity,"  which  were  said  to  secure  that  he  who  repeated  them 
"  should  see  her  visage,  and  be  warned  both  of  the  day  and 
hour  of  his  death,  before  he  departed  out  of  this  world,"  "  In 
those  books,"  it  goes  on  to  say,  "  men  had  learned  with  much 
foolish  superstition,  and  as  great  scrupulosity,  to  make  rehearsal 
of  their  sins  by  heart,"  thinking  that  would  secure  forgiveness. 
Moreover,  "  they  abounded,  every  place,  with  infinite  errors  and 
perilous  prayers,  slanderous  both  to  God  and  all  His  holy  saints." 
Such  was  the  authoritative  account  in  Henry's  own  Primer  of 
those  in  circulation  at  its  appearance  in  1534. 

The  contents  of  this  first  reformed  Prayer  Book  are  neces- 
sarily of  great  interest.  They  consist  of  An  Exposition  of  the 
Ten  Commandments,  another,  of  the  Creed,  A  General  Confes- 
sion of  Sins,  Instruction  how  to  Pray,  A  Brief  Explanation  of 
Our  Lord's  Prayer,  The  Ave  Maria,  A  Prayer  to  God  as  the 
Creator,  The  Office  of  all  States — that  is,  prayers  suited  for 
different  relations  and  responsibilities — A  Short  Treatise  on  Good 
Works,  An  Exhortation  to  Expect  the  Cross  and  to  Bear  it, 
Matins  and  Even  Song — that  is,  Morning  and  Even  Prayer — in 
English,  The  Seven  Penitential  Psalms  in  English,'  A  Litany 
in  English — in  which  the  invocations  of  the  Virgin,  the  Angels, 
the  Apostles,  and  the  Saints  are  retained,  An  Exposition  of  the 
51st  Psalm,  A  Prayer  to  Our  Lord  Jesus,  The  Passion  of  Our 
Saviour  Christ  in  ten  sections,  in  the  words  of  the  Gospels ; 
Instructions  for  Children,  including  Morning  and  Evening 
Prayers,  Graces,  &c. ;  A  Dialogue  between  a  Father  and  Son, 
being  a  Plain  Exposition  of  the  Creed  and  Ten  Command- 


A.D.  1534J  The  Pope  Finally  Disoiuned.  237 

ments  ;  A  Prayer  for  Softening  and  Converting  the  Heart ,  A 
Prayer  for  the  Restoring  of  Christ's  Poor  Church,  being  parts 
of  chapters  63  and  64  of  Isaiah  ;  The  Song  of  Hannah ;  The 
Prayer  of  Daniel ;  A  Prayer  to  Appease  God's  Wrath ;  The 
Dirige  or  Dirge  in  English — that  is,  the  Office  said  for  the  Souls 
of  the  Dead ;  The  Commendations  in  English — an  Office  in 
which  all  Christian  Souls  are  commended  to  God ;  The  Psalms 
on  the  Passion  of  Christ,  beginning  with  the  22nd;  The  Prayer 
of  Jonah  ;  and  finally,  A  Goodly  Exposition  of  the  30th  Psalm, 
made  by  Jerome  of  Ferrara,  and  translated  into  English.  Alto- 
gether, it  was  larger  than  our  present  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
The  new  wine  attempted  to  be  put  into  the  old  bottles  of  the 
moribund  Church,  had  thus  already  burst  them.  Cromwell  had 
induced  Henry  to  issue  a  book,  and  to  let  it  be  freely  bought  by 
all,  as  the  official  manual  of  devotion  and  religion,  which  was 
gall  and  wormwood  to  Gardiner  and  the  Romish  party.  Its 
being  entirely  in  English  was  offensive  enough,  but  its  com- 
ments on  the  Romish  services  it  necessarily  retained  were  still 
worse  to  bear.  It  denounced  the  worship  paid  to  the  Virgin  as 
trenching  on  the  divine  rights.  It  warned  men  to  "  take  heed 
that  no  one  put  his  sure  trust  and  hope  in  the  Mother  of  God, 
or  her  merits,"  and  that  "  we  ought  none  otherwise  to  praise 
and  love  her,  than  as  one  which  has  received  such  goodness, 
without  her  own  deserving,  of  the  pure  liberality  and  favour  of 
God."  It  joined  to  the  Romish  litany  a  solemn  caution  that 
"  no  commandments  of  Holy  Scripture  teach  us  that  we  must 
of  necessity  pray  to  our  Blessed  Lady  or  to  the  saints,"  and 
added,  "  though  it  is  true  we  must  needs  have  a  peace-maker, 
or  mediator,  which  is  His  (God's)  Son."  Men  were  cautioned 
against  "  the  superstitious  carrying  about  them  of  images, 
painted  papers,  carved  crosses,  &c.,  to  help  them  to  behold  the 
Passion  of  Christ  .  .  .  thinking  themselves  to  be  safe  thereby 
from  fire,  water,  and  other  perilous  jeopardy."  It  spoke  roundly 
against  the  preaching  of  the  day  as  not  to  profit.  If  it  in.serted 
the  Office  for  the  souls  of  the  dead,  it  added — that  it  would  be 


238  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1534, 

much  better  for  men  to  pray  for  themselves  while  alive,  and  that 
"  there  is  nothing  in  the  Office  taken  out  of  Scripture  that  makes 
any  more  mention  of  the  souls  departed  than  doth  the  tale  of 
Robin  Hood."  The  very  title  was  a  sign  of  a  new  age  having 
begun,  for  it  ran  thus — "A  Primer  in  English,  with  certain  Prayers 
and  Godly  Meditations,  very  necessary  for  all  people  that  under- 
stand not  the  Latin  tongue.  Also  an  exposition  of  the  51st 
Psalm."  Whatever  the  "  conspirators  "  think  of  the  palmy  days 
before  the  Reformation,  its  contemporaries  clearly  thought  very 
little  of  them  indeed.  Next  year,  1535,  the  Primer  was  repub- 
lished in  a  second  edition,  with  the  king's  special  authorization.* 
Who  compiled  this  invaluable  help  to  the  Reformation  is  not 
known.  England  is  indebted  for  it,  as  for  so  much  else,  to 
Cromwell,  who  doubtless  employed  some  unnamed  Reformer 
to  prepare  it.  Cranmer  certainly  was  not  its  author,  for  he  did 
not  see  it  till  it  had  been  printed.  But  the  leaven,  though  only 
a  handful,  was  at  last  cast  into  the  mass  of  the  English  popu- 
lation, and  could  not  but  spread.  Edition  after  edition  showed 
that  the  Primer  was  doing  its  work. 

The  evidences  of  a  widespread  determination  on  the  part  of 
the  priests  and  friars  to  bring  back  again,  if  possible,  the  Pope's 
authority  had  meanwhile  accumulated.  Their  treason  was  now 
to  be  met  with  a  terrible  sternness  that  can  only  be  palliated,  in 
any  measure,  by  the  imminent  peril  of  the  times.  Rome  is 
harmless  enough  to-day,  but  the  horrors  of  the  Spanish  Inqui- 
sition, the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  the  long  civil 
wars  in  France  ;  the  constant  plots  against  Elizabeth,  the  in- 
cident of  the  Armada,  the  horrors  inflicted  by  Philip  on  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  terrible  agony  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in 
Germany,  help  us  to  understand  the  attitude  in  which  Henry 
and  his  people  must  have  stood  to  the  Papacy  in  these  days  of 
its  power.  Nor  was  its  ability  to  let  loose  war  on  rebellious 
nations,  or  to  stir  up  plots  in  their  borders,  its  only  or  even  its 

*  Strype's  Eccles.  Mem.  i.  c.  31. 


A.D.  1534}  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  239 

most  dreaded  aspect.  Its  hold  on  the  superstitions  of  man- 
kind clothed  it  in  imaginary  terrors  which  it  needed  a  moral 
courage  far  rarer  than  mere  physical  bravery  to  cast  off. 

Parliament  met  on  the  3rd  of  November,  and  its  first  act 
showed  that  the  king  would  carry  out  the  Revolution  to  the  end, 
according  to  his  conception  of  it.  The  clergy  in  Convocation 
had,  three  years  before,  declared  him  supreme  head  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  now  an  Act  made  the  title  part  of  the  law  of 
the  land,  and  thus  definitely  proclaimed  the  independence  of 
the  nation,  as  well  ecclesiastically  as  civilly,  of  any  foreign  juris- 
diction. But  Henry,  ever  anxious  to  show  orthodoxy,  was 
careful  to  have  a  document  prepared,  to  accompany  the  Act, 
deprecating  the  idea  that  "  he  should  take  any  spiritual  power 
from  spiritual  men  that  is  given  to  them  by  the  Gospel."  He  did 
not  "  pretend  to  take  any  powers  from  the  successors  of  the 
apostles  that  was  given  to  them  by  God."  Nor  was  there  any 
intention  "  to  decline  or  vary  from  the  congregation  of  Christ's 
Church  in  anything  concerning  the  articles  of  the  Catholic 
faith."  To  Henry  the  only  change  was,  that  he  was  now  Pope 
as  well  as  king — to  be  obeyed,  in  his  every  word,  as  both. 

Another  Act  followed,  which  no  emergency  could  even  palliate. 
Any  person  "  wishing,  willing,  or  desiring,  by  words  or  writing, 
or  by  craft  imagining,  inventing,  practising,  or  attempting  any 
bodily  harm  to  the  king,  the  queen,  or  heirs  apparent,  or  depriv- 
ing them  or  any  of  them  of  the  dignity,  title,  or  name  of  their 
royal  estates,  or  calling  the  king  a  heretic,  tyrant,  schismatic,  or 
the  like  (as  the  friars  and  monks  were  doing),"  was,  with  his 
aiders  and  abettors,  to  be  held  guilty  of  high  treason.  Under 
the  cloak  of  law  this  was  simply  the  extinction  of  all  law :  the 
handing  over  the  lives  of  all  Englishmen  to  the  unchecked 
desp)otism  of  the  throne.  It  is  useless  to  blame  Cromwell  for 
such  a  statute,  any  more  than  for  the  tyranny  before  and  after 
its  passing.  Henry,  as  long  ago  as  1520,  when  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  was  to  be  legally  murdered,  had  shown  that  he  was 
himself  the  creator  of  the  reign  of  terror,  when  he  threatened  to 


240  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  153^ 

behead  a  leading  member  of  the  House  if  his  bill  were  not 
carried  at  once.^  He  was  only  twenty-nine  then  :  now,  he  was 
forty-three,  and  had  been  growing  worse  all  along. 

Another  act  of  servility  followed,  in  the  transference  to  Henry 
of  the  first-fruits — that  is,  the  first  year's  income  of  all  Church 
benefices  on  a  new  presentation;  and  of  the  tenths — that  is,  the 
tenth  part  of  the  yearly  value  of  all  ecclesiastical  livings.  Both 
taxes,  scandalous  in  their  oppression  of  the  poorer  clergy,  had 
been  wrung  from  England  by  the  Pope  :  both  were  now  ordered 
to  be  paid  to  his  royal  successor.  It  was  not  till  Queen  Anne's 
day  that  both  tenths  and  first-fruits  were  once  more  restored  to 
the  Church,  for  the  augmentation  of  poor  livings,  under  the 
name  of  Queen  Aime's  bounty.  The  clergy  had  gone  against 
the  Pope  to  escape  these  extortions,  but  they  were  soon  to  find 
that  the  greed  of  Rome  was  to  be  outdone  by  that  of  their  lay 
supreme  head.  Commissioners  were  forthwith  appointed  to 
re-value  all  benefices,  that  Henry  might  make  as  much  out  of 
his  new  revenue  as  possible. 

An  Act  was  also  passed  for  the  appointment  of  twenty-six 
suffragan  bishops,  but  it  was  soon  allowed  to  fall  into  abeyance. 
A  subsidy  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  last  war  with  Scotland,  to  fortify 
Calais,  and  to  put  down  the  Irish  revolt,  completed  the  work  of 
Parliament,  which  did  not  meet  again  for  more  than  a  year. 

On  the  day  after  Parliament  adjourned  Cranmer  took  a  fresh 
step  in  Church  reform,  destined  to  affect  the  whole  future  of 
England,  by  inducing  the  clergy  to  petition  that  the  Bible  might 
be  translated  into  English  for  the  use  of  the  people.  The 
English  Church  in  its  earlier  and  purer  days  had  favoured  the 
circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  language  of  the  people. 
Aldhelm,  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  in  a.d.  700,  Eadfrid,  Bishop  of 
Lindisfarne,  Caedmon,  a  monk  of  Whitby,  the  Venerable  Bede, 
Alcuin,  the  friend  of  Charlemagne,  King  Alfred,  Bishop  Aelfric, 
and  others,  had  translated  portions  of  them  into  Old  English, 

'  See  page  107, 


AD.  isu]  The  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  241 

before  the  Norman  Conquest.  That  event,  however,  threw  the 
language  for  a  time  into  such  confusion  that  the  Creed  and  some 
other  parts  of  the  Services  of  the  times  are  found  in  French, 
English,  and  Latin.  Still,  there  were  fresh  attempts  made  at 
Scripture  translation.  The  whole  Bible,  indeed,  was  never  put 
into  English,  but  Gospels,  Psalters,  and  separate  Books,  of 
various  periods,  from  the  Conquest  to  the  days  of  Wycliffe,  are 
still  in  existence.  The  great  Reformer  and  fellow-labourers 
have  the  immortal  honour  of  giving  the  nation  the  first  com- 
plete English  Bible. 

But  the  early  glory  of  the  Church  had  passed  away  before 
Wycliffe  was  bom,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  his  zeal  for  spreading 
the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  not  only  met  no  support  from 
the  clergy  of  his  day,  but  drew  down  on  his  labours  a  bitter  pro- 
scription.  To  have  a  shred  of  his  Bible  was  fatal  to  the  possessor. 

Cranmer  could,  therefore,  say  with  strict  correctness,  speaking 
in  1540,  that  it  was  not  "  much  above  one  hundred  years  since 
Scripture  was  accustomed  to  be  read  in  the  vulgar  tongue  in 
this  realm."  The  Convocation,  led  by  Arundel,  had,  in  1408, 
proscribed  Wycliffe's  and  Purvey's  version,  but  no  other  trans- 
lation had  been  undertaken  by  the  Church,  and  Tyndale's  pro- 
posal to  translate  even  the  New  Testament  only — the  first  made 
since  Arundel's  day — met  with  such  persecution  that  he  had  to 
flee  to  the  Continent  to  escape  the  stake. 

Even  the  friends  of  the  New  Learning,  indeed,  were  alarmed 
at  the  prospect  of  any  part  of  the  Scriptures  being  in  the  hands 
of  the  people.  In  the  autumn  of  1526,  immediately  after 
Tyndale's  Testament  had  reached  England,  a  meeting  of  the 
leading  bishops,  held  under  the  presidency  of  Wolsey,  resolved 
unanimously  that  the  obnoxious  book  should  be  publicly  burned 
wherever  it  was  discovered.  Wolsey,  always  liberal,  and 
shrewder  than  his  brethren,  would  have  let  it  be  circulated,  but 
even  as  easy  a  nature  as  that  of  Tunstal  was  so  much  alarmed, 
that  he  urged  its  strict  prohibition.  Henry,  in  consequence, 
had  ordered  it  to  be  publicly  burned,  as  often  as  found. 


242  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1534, 

But  the  utter  failure  of  all  attempts  to  suppress  Tyndale's 
version,  and  the  large  importation  of  Lutheran  books,  led  Henry, 
in  1530,  to  call  another  meeting  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
Church  and  the  universities.  "  He  had  summoned  them,"  he 
said,  "  because  it  had  come  to  his  hearing,  that  report  is  made 
by  divers  and  many  of  his  subjects,  that  it  were  to  all  men,  not 
only  expedient,  but  also  necessary,  to  have  in  the  English 
tongue  both  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New." 

The  spirit  of  the  past,  however,  was  too  strong  in  the  clergy 
to  let  them  sanction  such  a  proposal,  and  it  was  consequently 
decided  by  them  unanimously  "  that  it  is  not  necessary  the  said 
Scripture  be  in  the  English  tongue,  and  in  the  hands  of  the 
people,  and  that,  having  respect  to  the  malignity  of  this  present 
time,  with  the  inclination  of  the  people  to  erroneous  opinions, 
the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  and  the  Old  into  the 
vulgar  tongue  of  English  should  rather  be  the  occasion  of  con- 
tinuance or  increase  of  errors  among  the  said  people,  than  any 
benefit  or  commodity  toward  the  wealth  of  their  souls." 

One  step,  however,  at  least,  had  been  gained,  for  Henry  made 
known  that  he  "intended  to  provide  that  the  Holy  Scripture 
shall  be,  by  great,  learned,  and  Catholic  persons,  translated  into 
the  English  tongue,"  when  the  dangers  arising  from  heretical 
opinions  should  have  passed  away. 

Thus  things  stood  in  December,  1534,  and  thus  they  might 
long  have  remained  but  for  Cranmer.  The  resolution  passed 
unanimously  by  Convocation  four  years  before,  showed  that  if 
the  matter  were  left  to  the  clergy,  the  nation  could  not  hope  for 
an  English  Bible.  But  Cranmer  had  succeeded  in  interesting 
Henry  in  the  proposal  to  have  a  new  translation,  and  a  hint  of 
their  master's  will  was  enough  to  make  Convocation  as  readily 
support  the  undertaking  as  they  had  till  now,  when  left  to  them- 
selves, opposed  it  bitterly 

An  address  was  therefore  voted  by  Convocation,^  praying  the 


^  19th  December,  1534- 


A.D.  1534  ]  TJie  Pope  Finally  Disowned.  243 

king  "  to  decree  that  the  Scriptures  should  be  translated  into  the 
vulgar  tongue  by  some  honest  and  learned  men,  to  be  nominated 
by  the  king."  They  were,  however,  to  be  "  delivered  to  the 
people,"  only  "  according  to  their  learning,"  The  Church  was 
to  have  the  credit  of  having  made  an  English  Bible,  but  was  far 
from  intending  it  to  be  of  general  use.  As  still  in  Romish 
countries,  it  was  to  be  entrusted  only  by  special  license,  or  at 
least  discountenanced  as  unsafe  for  the  multitude.  Nor  was 
this  enough,  A  petition  was  added  to  the  address,  begging 
Henry  to  "  decree  and  command  that  all  his  subjects  in  whose 
possession  any  books  of  suspect  doctrine  were,  especially  in 
the  vulgar  language,  imprinted  beyond  or  on  this  side  of  the 
sea,  should  be  warned  to  bring  them  in  before  persons  appointed 
by  the  king,  within  three  months,  under  a  certain  pain  to  be 
limited  by  the  king," 

Whether  Henry  granted  the  authority  or  not  is  not  known,  but, 
in  any  case,  Cranmer  lost  no  time  in  setting  the  work  of  trans- 
lation afoot.  Beginning  with  the  New  Testament,  he  divided  it 
into  nine  or  ten  parts,  and  sent  one  to  the  best  scholars 
among  the  bishops  and  clergy,  that  they  should  "  make  a  perfect 
correction  "  of  it.  The  Old  Testament,  doubtless,  was  treated  in 
the  same  way,  and  thus  the  great  work  which,  more  than  any- 
thing, secured  the  triumph  of  the  Reformation,  was  quietly  begun. 
The  true  feeling  of  the  old  party  to  a  people's  Bible  was  here- 
after to  be  shown,  by  the  fact  that  Cranmer's  scheme  was  so 
opposed  that  a  private  translation  had  after  all  to  be  accepted 
when  it  was  desired  to  put  Bibles  into  the  Churches,  Even  now, 
indeed,  the  very  men  who  affected  to  be  so  ready  to  act  on 
Henry's  intimation,  that  an  English  Bible  must  be  made  ready^ 
were  tracking  Tyndale  by  their  spies  on  the  Continent,  and  were 
within  a  few  months  of  bringing  him  to  the  fire,  for  no  crime 
but  that  of  having  given  his  fellow-countrymen  his  magnificent 
English  version  of  the  New  Testament. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  MONASTERIES. 

CLEMENT  VII.  had  died  in  September,  1534,  and  had 
been  succeeded  by  Alexander  Farnese,  under  the  style 
of  Paul  III.  Till  his  election  Paul  had  been  a  stiff  supporter 
of  Henry,  and  it  was  hoped  that  he  would  continue  honest  to  his 
convictions,  now,  when  Pope,  But  the  influences  round  him 
were  soon  to  show  that  the  wearer  of  the  tiara  is  only  free  in 
name.  As  with  Pius  IX.,  the  liberal  impulses  of  the  man 
were  lost  in  the  instinctive  narrowness  of  the  Pope. 

Meanwhile  the  progress  of  Reform  in  Europe  had  been  steady, 
if  troubled.  Charles  V.,  in  1521,  two  years  after  he  had  been 
elected  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  had  sacrificed  Germany  to  the  Pope,  for  his  own 
selfish  ends.  His  rejection  of  German  claims  and  interests 
at  the  Diet  of  Worms,  in  that  year,  in  favour  of  the  Papacy, 
had  entailed  on  the  Germans  the  unspeakable  miseries  of  the 
Peasant  Wars  of  1525  and  1526,  in  which  100,000  of  the 
country-people  were  killed,  and  had  postponed  the  freedom  and 
the  unity  of  Germany  for  ten  generations.  To  his  after-quarrel 
with  the  Pope,  however,  had  been  due  a  permission  granted  in 
1526,  at  the  Diet  of  Spires,  for  each  of  the  German  princes  to 
do  as  he  chose  in  religious  matters.  Protestant  States  and 
national  Churches,  free  from  Rome,  had  thus  risen.     But  the 


AD.  1535]  Suppression  of  tlie  Monasteries.  245 

Sacking  of  Rome  in  1 5  27,  by  the  help  of  a  German  army,  had  been 
followed  by  a  reconciliation  between  the  emperor  and  the  Pope, 
which  resulted,  in  1529,  at  the  second  Diet  of  Spires,  in  a  revo- 
cation of  the  freedom  granted  in  the  first.  Civil  war  between 
Protestant  and  Romish  Germany  was  now  inevitable,  but  had 
been  delayed  for  the  moment  by  the  appearance  of  the 
Turk,  that  very  year,  under  the  walls  of  Vienna.  It  was  no 
time  for  intestine  feuds  when  the  barbarian  who  had  overrun  half 
Christendom,  threatened  to  extinguish  what  remained.  The 
protest  of  the  Lutherans  in  1529,  at  Spires,  against  the  decree 
revoking  their  religious  liberty  had  given  them  the  name  of 
"  Protestants,"  henceforth  to  distinguish  all  who  had  revolted,  or 
should  revolt,  from  Rome.  The  Diet  of  Augsburg,  in  1530, 
had  been  called  to  enable  the  emperor  to  enforce  submission  to 
the  Pope  on  the  Protestant  princes,  but  they  had  resisted 
bravely,  and  the  Augsburg  Confession  had  formulated  only  too 
rigidly  the  doctrines  of  the  new  faith.  A  few  months  given  for 
consideration  were  to  be  followed,  if  the  Protestants  did  not 
yield,  by  the  emperor  crushing  heresy  by  arms,  and  against  this 
peril  the  "  League  of  Schmalkald  "  had  been  formed  by  those 
who  were  threatened.  Another  Turkish  invasion,  in  1532,  had, 
alone,  deferred  once  more,  for  a  time,  a  religious  war.  Such 
was  the  outlook  of  German  affairs  in  1535. 

In  Denmark,  Lutheranism  was  triumphant,  and  was  destined 
to  be  finally  established  in  1536.  The  New  Opinions  had  been 
introduced  into  Sweden  in  1527,  by  Gustavus  Vasa,  the  sole 
example,  in  an  age  when  kings  were  everywhere  trying  to  play 
the  despot,  of  one  whose  crown  was  a  symbol  of  patriotism  and 
honour.  In  Switzerland  religious  war  had  followed  agitation, 
and  had  only  been  ended,  after  terrible  suffering,  in  1531, 
Zuinglius,  himself,  dying  in  battle. 

Nor  was  it  only  in  Switzerland  that  civil  commotion  had 
followed  the  spread  of  the  New  Opinions.  All  Germany  had 
been  convulsed  since  1525.  The  Rising  of  the  Peasants  had 
thrown  a  terrible  odium  with  many,  on  the  Reformation,  for  the 


246  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1535. 

serfs  had  been  led  away  by  demagogues  like  MUnzer,  to  mingle 
demands  for  what  he  called  Christian  liberty  and  equality  and  a 
community  of  goods  with  their  more  practical  clamour  for 
deliverance  from  social  oppression,  and  hideous  excesses  had 
resulted  from  their  ignorant  fanaticism.  Nor  did  the  flames  of 
this  terrible  insurrection  die  away  with  the  quenching  of  the 
peasant  war  in  seas  of  blood.  In  1534  and  1535  new  disorders 
had  broken  out.  The  principles  of  MUnzer  still  survived,  es- 
pecially in  Holland,  among  the  Anabaptists,  or  Re-baptizers.  Two 
of  their  most  fanatical  leaders,  John  Matthias,  a  baker  of  Haarlem, 
and  a  tailor,  John  Bockhold  of  Leyden,  had  wandered  with  a  body 
of  followers,  in  the  beginning  of  1 534,  to  Munster,  in  Westphalia, 
and  driven  out  the  authorities,  substituting  others  of  their  own, 
and  proclaiming  a  community  of  goods.  Every  one  had  to 
bring  all  hfe  possessed  to  a  public  treasury.  The  churches  were 
stripped  of  their  wealth  :  the  images  destroyed ;  and  all  the 
books  in  the  city  burned,  the  Bible  excepted.  Sensuality  and 
tyranny  soon  developed  themselves  as  results  of  the  wild  fanati- 
cism in  power.  It  was  recognized  as  a  right  of  Christian  liberty 
to  have  more  wives  than  one,  John  of  Leyden  setting  the 
example  by  marrying  three  at  once.  He  was  erelong  elected 
king  of  the  whole  earth,  and  proclaimed  as  about  to  set  up  again 
the  throne  of  David.  Apostles  were  sent  out  to  subdue  the 
world  to  the  new  king,  but  they  were  everywhere  seized  and  put 
to  death. 

An  army  led  by  the  expelled  bishop  and  some  temporal 
princes  erelong  tried  to  retake  the  town,  but  in  August,  1534, 
they  were  driven  back  with  great  slaughter,  nor  was  it  till 
MUnster  had  been  thoroughly  invested  for  many  months  and 
thus  reduced  to  stai^vation,  that  it  could  be  won  by  storming  in 
the  end  of  June,  1535.  The  deaths  inflicted  on  the  leaders, 
who  were  now  taken,  showed  the  terrible  excitement  of  the  times. 
They  were  carried  round  to  various  towns  as  a  public  show ; 
then  pinched  with  red-hot  tongs  till  half  killed,  a  red-hot  dagger 
being  finally  plunged  into  their  hearts.     Their  bodies  were  then 


AD.  1535.]  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries.  247 

hung  up  in  high  cages  from  a  church  tower,  in  the  market-place  of 
Miinster/  till  they  rotted  away.  Henry  and  England  might  well 
be  cautious  in  letting  loose  the  winds  which  elsewhere  had 
raised  such  social  tempests.  A  strong  hand  was  evidently 
needed  in  such  wild  times  to  prevent  the  cry  for  reform  degene- 
rating into  a  license  that  would  dissolve  society. 

All  Europe,  indeed,  was  in  the  throes  of  religious  excitement. 
In  Scotland  Patrick  Hamilton  had  introduced  the  New  Opinions 
in  1527.  At  Geneva  they  were  set  up  by  Farel  in  this  very 
year,  1535.  In  the  Netherlands  they  were  widely  spread,  and  in 
Spain  and  Italy  the  Friends  of  Light  had  survived  the  utmost 
efforts  to  crush  them.  A  cloud,  as  yet  no  bigger  than  a  man's 
hand,  had  indeed  risen,  for  in  August,  1534,  four  months  after 
the  Papal  authority  had  been  set  aside  in  England,  Ignatius 
Loyola  founded  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  his  obscure  room  in 
Paris.  But  the  portentous  future  of  this  fell  conspiracy  against 
God  and  man  was  yet  hidden. 

Meanwhile,  the  universal  quickening  of  the  public  mind  of 
Europe,  which  had  begun  with  the  Revival  of  Letters  in  the  last 
century,  spread  and  intensified  in  every  direction.  The  middle 
ages  had  ended  :  modem  history  had  begun.  It  astonishes  one 
to  notice  in  such  catalogues  as  those  of  the  Bodleian  or  British 
museums  how  many  books  poured  from  the  press  year  by  year. 
The  discovery  of  hitherto  unknown  regions,  also,  was  constantly 
stimulating  the  enterprise,  and  enlarging  the  conceptions-,  of 
mankind.  Magellan  had  for  the  first  time  in  history  sailed 
round  the  world,  between  1519  and  1521,  and  in  the  same  two 
years  Cortez  had  conquered  Mexico.  Francisco  Pizarro  had 
invaded  Peru  in  1529,  and  the  empire  of  the  Incas  had  by  1535 
been  added  to  the  dominions  of  the  Emperor  Charles.  Trade 
was  yearly  extending  between  England  and  the  Continent. 
Skippers  and  merchants  frequented  the  markets  of  Bergen, 
Dantzic,  Lubeck,  Antwerp,  Lisbon,  Cadiz,  Barcelona,  Genoa, 

*  Kohlraasch,  Die  Deutsche  Gcschiclite,  434. 
12 


248  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1535. 

and  Venice,  and  brought  back  the  news,  the  books,  and  the 
opinions  of  Europe,  as  well  as  their  freights. 

It  had  doubtless  been  hoped  that  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  with 
its  terrible  schedule  of  penalties,  would  have  secured  submis- 
sion ;  and  the  readiness  with  which  the  oath  of  succession, 
appointed  by  Parliament  in  the  spring  of  1534,  had  been  taken, 
seemed  to  promise  this  result.  But  as  the  year  passed  it  was 
evident  that  the  monks  and  friars,  and  at  least  some  of  the 
parish  clergy,  were  stirring  up  sedition  under  cover  of  their 
office.  Still,  Henry  was  unwilling  to  carry  out  the  law  ;  but  with 
a  fierce  rebellion  in  Ireland,  with  the  examples  of  insur- 
rections and  anarchy  rising  from  religious  questions  on  the 
Continent,  and  with  the  dim  consciousness  that  rebellion  was 
simmering  in  the  masses  of  the  peasantry  through  England,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  that  stern  measures  were  at  last  resolved 
upon. 

The  monks  of  the  Charterhouse  in  London,  an  exceptionally 
worthy  brotherhood,  had  shown  great  hesitation  in  taking  the 
oath  in  the  summer  of  1534,  but  had  remained  untouched  till 
the  spring  of  1535.  In  April  of  that  year,  however,  the  state  of 
the  coimtry  made  a  stricter  policy  inevitable.  Monks  and  friars 
were  everywhere  denouncing  the  king,  the  queen,  and  the  new 
supremacy.  Some,  doubtless,  acted  on  conviction  :  many,  in  so 
corrupt  a  time,  had  certainly  less  worthy  motives.  Their  bulls, 
immunities,  privileges,  and  exemptions,  were  gone.  They  were 
dependent  on  Henry.  The  Pope  could  not  send  them  indul- 
gences, and  relics  were  discredited.  Christ  Church  Priory,  in 
London — the  richest  in  the  city  for  land,  plate,  and  jewels — had 
already  been  dissolved,  and  its  site  and  precincts,  with  all  its 
plate  and  lands,  had  been  granted  to  Audley,  then  Speaker  of 
the  Commons,  and  now  Chancellor  ;  at  all  times  a  ready  and 
unscrupulous  instrument  in  any  act  of  despotic  violence  or 
wrong  on  the  part  of  the  crown.  Audley  had,  indeed,  con- 
verted  the  priory  into  a  residence  for  himself.^  Other  houses 
•  Fuller,  ii.  229. 


A.D.  1535]  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries.       ,         249 

might  follow.  If  the  people  could  not  be  roused  through  the 
pulpit,  the  confessional,  and  private  discourse,  their  cause  was 
lost. 

A  proclamation,  to  put  an  end  to  this  wide  and  dangerous 
conspiracy,  was  at  last  issued,  requiring  that  all  seditious 
persons  be  arrested,  without  bail,  and  information  sent  to  the 
king's  council.  The  Charterhouse  monks,  identified  in  the  past 
with  the  doings  of  the  Nun  of  Kent,  and  hence  already  under 
suspicion,  were  the  first  to  suffer,  and  with  them  the  priors  of 
the  two  daughter  houses  of  Axholm  and  Belville — apparently 
both  in  Lincolnshire.  With  the  prior  of  the  Charterhouse  these 
two  presented  themselves  before  Cromwell  in  April,  begging  to 
be  excused  taking  the  oath,  but  they  were  sent  to  the  Tower, 
with  another  monk  from  the  afliliated  house  at  Sion,  where  the 
Nun  of  Kent's  plot  had  been  planned.  Cromwell  tried  hard  to 
get  them  to  accept  the  oath,  but  nothing  could  move  them.  As 
some  had  chosen  to  die  for  the  freedom  of  thought,  they  had 
resolved  to  be  martyrs  to  Church  authority.  Their  trial  speedily 
followed,  and  a  few  days  after  it  they  were  executed  at  Tyburn. 
It  was  the  first  time  that  ecclesiastics  had  suffered  without  being 
previously  degraded,  and  the  sight  of  their  dying  in  their  frocks 
sent  home  to  all,  the  fact  that  they  had  entered  on  a  new  era,  in 
which  the  law  of  the  land  knew  no  distinction  of  priest  and  lay- 
man. The  sanctity  of  the  Churchmen,  which  had  kept  men  in 
superstitious  awe  of  them,  had  never  received  so  deadly  a  blow. 
The  pity  is  that  so  wholesome  a  lesson  should  have  been 
enforced  by  severity  so  extreme  for  such  an  offence  as  refusing 
an  oath.  The  bloodthirstiness  of  our  laws  till  a  very  recent 
date,  and  the  dangers  of  the  times,  are  the  only  excuse. 

Cromwell  tried  hard  to  save  the  rest  of  the  brotherhood  of  the 
Charterhouse,*  sending  them  books  to  win  them  over,  but  with- 
out success.  Six  weeks  later  three  more,  therefore,  were  arrested, 
tried,  and  hanged,  but  the  rest  secured  themselves  a  respite  by 

'  Bedyll  to  Cromwell,  Ascension  Day,  1535.  Suppression  of  the 
Monasteries. 


250  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1535. 

their  steadfast  determination.  From  time  to  time  they  were 
brought  before  the  Council,  but  their  enthusiasm  was  invincible. 
They  boasted  of  having  visions,  in  which  they  saw  their  prior 
next  the  angels  in  heaven,  and  heard  "  the  angels  of  peace 
lament  and  mourn  without  measure."^  Four  were  taken  to 
Westminster  to  hear  Tunstal,  Bishop  of  Durham,  preach  against 
the  Pope,  but  that  also  failed.  At  last  some  were  sent  to  the 
north :  others  to  Sion,  under  a  loyal  prior :  others  left  in  the 
Charterhouse  under  supervision.  But  the  result  was  unhappy. 
Two  were  hanged  next  year  for  joining  in  open  rebellion  in 
Yorkshire  :  ten  were  sent  to  Newgate,  where  nine  died  of  filth 
or  fever,  and  the  tenth  was  executed.  Those  still  left  at  last 
gave  way,  and,  having  made  a  form  of  submission,  were  allowed 
to  escape  abroad. 

It  was  a  terrible  thing  in  those  days  to  lift  the  hand  against 
priests,  and  even  Henry  was  so  awed  at  doing  it  that  he  ordered 
his  court  to  cut  their  hair  short  in  token  of  public  mourning, 
he  himself  setting  the  example,  and  even  letting  his  beard  grow 
from  this  time  unshaven.^  But  if  the  law  were  defied  at  such  a 
time,  from  whatever  motive,  there  could  be  no  weakness.  Sub- 
mission meant  peace  in  England ;  successful  defiance,  anarchy. 

The  distemper  of  the  times  and  the  fears  that  filled  all  men's 
hearts  were  strangely  shown  in  this  same  month  of  May.  Some 
Dutch  Anabaptists  had  come  to  London,  where  nineteen  men 
and  six  women  of  their  number  were  arrested,  and  tried  at  St. 
Paul's  for  heresy.  However  innocent  individually,  the  excesses 
of  a  branch  of  the  sect  to  which  they  belonged  had  justly  given 
it  an  evil  name,  as  dangerous  to  society.  MUnster,  at  the 
moment,  was  still  under  the  wild  rule  of  their  leaders,  and  alike 
in  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  Holland®  they  had  mixed  destruc- 
tive poUtical  and  social  theories  with  their  religious  ideas,  till 
they  were  everywhere   regarded  as  social  incendiaries  of  the 

'  Suppression  of  Monasteries,  June,  1535. 
Stow,  57X.  »  Mosheim,  iv.  450. 


AJ3. 15350  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries.  25 1 

worst  type.  In  an  ignorant  age  great  religious  excitement 
inevitably  leads  to  visionary  extremes,  but  the  persecution  the 
Anabaptists  were  now  bearing  proved  a  baptism  of  fire,  from 
which  all  that  was  good  in  their  tenets  came  out  purified  by 
trial. 

Heresy  itself,  to  both  Reformers  and  Romanists,  was  still  a 
crime  against  the  State.  Protestants  had  not  yet  learned  to 
apply  their  own  principles,  for  men  come  only  slowly  to  realize 
a  new  idea.  Fourteen  of  the  unfortunate  foreigners  were  con- 
demned. A  man  and  a  woman  were  burned  at  Smithfield,  and 
the  rest  sent  to  other  towns  to  be  burned  there,  as  warnings. 

More  and  Fisher  had  now  been  a  whole  year  in  the  Tower,  and 
Henry  determined  that  they  too  should  submit  or  die.  A  depu- 
tation from  the  council,  therefore,  proceeded  to  their  prison,  to 
obtain  an  acknowledgment  of  the  royal  supremacy,  but  without 
effect.  Fisher  had  been  injudicious  since  his  confinement,  but 
nothing  of  the  kind  is  alleged  against  More.  Cromwell,  as 
usual,  did  his  best  to  save  them,  so  that  More  wrote  that  "  he 
tenderly  favoured  him."  But  the  new  Pope  sealed  their  fate  by 
making  Fisher  a  cardinal.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  poor  old  man 
refused  the  honour.  Henry  was  furious,  and  declared,  with 
brutal  coarseness,  that  he  would  take  care  that  he  had  no  head 
to  wear  the  hat  when  it  came.  On  the  17th  Jane,  he  was  carried 
to  Westminster  Hall,  for  formal  condemnation,  and  five  days 
after,  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill.  Seventy-six  years  of  age,  he 
might  well  have  been  left  to  die  in  the  course  of  nature,  but 
Henry  was  steadily  sinking  lower  and  lower  in  unredeemed 
ferocity.  Eight  days  after.  Sir  Thomas  More  shared  the  same 
fate.  Both  he  and  Fisher  died  like  Christian  men ;  died  bravely 
and  nobly  as  those  had  died  whom  they  had  themselves  sent  to 
the  stake  for  their  convictions.  Fisher  had  been  chaplain  and 
confessor  to  Henry's  grandmother,  Margaret,  Countess  of  Rich- 
mond, and  had  held  the  see  of  Rochester  since  1504,  refusing  to 
exchange  it  for  a  richer.  He  would  not,  he  used  to  say,  change 
his  little  old  wife,  to  whom  he  had  so  long  been  wedded,  for  a 


252  TJie  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1535. 

wealthier.^  Yet  he  and  More  had  been  the  cause  of  Frith's 
being  burned,^  and  had  thought  it  their  duty  to  gather  and  burn 
in  public  all  Tyndale's  Testaments  they  could  find.  So  strangely 
mingled  is  good  and  evil  in  man,  however,  that  Fisher  went  to 
the  scaifold  with  the  Testament  of  Erasmus  in  his  hands,  and 
repeated  aloud  from  it,  once  and  again,  as  he  moved  towards  the 
block,  "  This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  Thee,  the  only  true  God, 
and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent."  A  man  of  the  old 
school,  he  was  willing  to  go  as  far  as  the  New  Learning,  at  its 
first  rise,  proposed,  but  had  become  so  timid  and  extreme  a  con- 
servative when  the  age  moved  faster  than  he  wished,  that  he  led 
the  resistance  to  the  bill  of  1529,  which  proposed  even  such 
slight  reforms  as  the  restriction  of  non-residence  and  pluralities, 
and  the  regulation  of  fees  for  wills  and  burials.  The  Greek  or 
Latin  Testament  was  fit  enough  in  his  own  hands  as  a  priest, 
but  an  English  Testament  in  the  hands  of  the  people  was  not  to 
be  endured. 

More's  character  shows  the  same  mingling  of  light  and  shade. 
So  good  a  father,  that  his  daughter,  long  years  after  his  death, 
went  to  her  grave  with  his  head  laid  on  her  breast ;  he  gloried,  in 
his  epitaph,  composed  by  himself,  in  being  "  a  scourge  to  thieves, 
murderers,  and  heretics."  Tolerant  beyond  his  age  in  his  Utopia, 
he  lived  to  have  martyrs  cry  from  the  flames,  "  The  Lord  forgive 
Sir  Thomas  More."  Yet  he  no  doubt  fancied  he  was  serving 
God,  even  when  consigning  a  poor  man  to  the  fire  for  owning  a 
Testament,  or  refusing  to  worship  the  wafer. 

The  deaths  of  Fisher  and  More  sent  a  shock  through  Europe. 
That  a  cardinal  should  have  been  beheaded  infuriated  the  Pope^ 
and  the  Sacred  College.  Everywhere  through  England,  in 
France,  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  in  Germany,  all  stood  aghast 
at  men  so  illustrious  as  More,  and  so  blameless  as  Fisher,  being 
treated  like  common  traitors  for  a  conscientious  scruple,  which 

^  Fuller,  ii.  70.  ^  Foxe,  v.  99. 

Paul  III.  made  his  soil's  sons  cardinals,  in  boyhood. 


A.D.  1535]  Suppression  of  the  Monasterits.  253 

had  not  bodied  itself  in  any  overt  acts  or  words.  Even  Henry, 
imperious  as  he  was,  felt  the  storm  of  indignation  he  had  raised, 
and  sought  to  abate  it  by  causing  "  the  treasons  "  committed  by 
both  to  be  declared  to  the  people  at  quarter  sessions,  and  by 
sending  special  explanations  to  his  ambassadors  abroad,  to  lay 
before  the  various  courts,^  and  even  before  the  Pope. 

But  nothing  could  lessen  the  execration  with  which  such  exe- 
cutions were  regarded.  Paul  III.,  indeed,  in  his  indignation,  replied 
by  drawing  up  a  bull  excommunicating  and  deposing  Henry.  But 
he  did  not  dare  to  publish  it  till  three  years  later ;  Francis  of 
France,  to  whom  it  had  been  sent  in  draft,  having  stigmatized  it 
as  a  "  most  impudent  document,"  and  having  warned  the  Pope 
that  his  claim  to  be  above  princes  could  not  be  allowed,  and 
would  only  make  himself  a  laughing  stock  to  the  world.'' 

This  excommunication  and  absolving  of  his  subjects  from 
allegiance,  though  kept  secret  for  the  time,  was  yet  known  to 
Henry,  and  forced  him,  once  more,  to  Hsten  unwillingly  to 
Cromwell's  policy  of  leaguing  with  the  Protestant  princes  of 
Germany.  But  they  shrank  from  one  who  was  almost  more  a 
papist  than  the  Pope,  and  burned  Protestants  and  Romanists  with 
grand  impartiality.  Nor  was  Henry  less  averse  to  any  connection 
with  them,  identified  as  they  were  with  that  liberty  of  thought 
which  he  regarded  as  an  invasion  of  kingly  authority.  Religious 
liberty  he  regarded  as  the  first  step  to  rebellion ;  a  belief  which 
determined  his  bearing,  and  that  of  his  daughter  Elizabeth  after 
him,  to  all  who  did  not  passively  accept  the  creed  and  rites  they 
might  prescribe. 

It  was  for  the  people  to  obey,  not  to  discuss ;  for  the  prince  to 
grant,  for  the  subject  gratefully  to  accept.  Change  in  the 
direction  of  religious  liberty  was  abhorrent  where  the  only  changes 
in  political  matters  were  towards  despotism.  If  England  were  to 
be  reformed  in  the  Protestant  sense,  it  could  only  be  piecemeal, 

'  Among  others,  they  were  sent  to  Gardiner,  at  this  time  ambassador 
in  Paris.  State  Papers,  vol.  viL  628. 


254  The  English  Reformation.  [ad  1535. 

as  the  exigencies  of  the  moment  forced  some  slight  step  in 
advance  in  a  special  direction  from  the  crown.  Necessity  now 
compelled  Henry  to  submit  to  proposals  of  union  with  the  Ger- 
man princes,  and  of  a  frank  toleration  of  the  Reformed  doctrines 
in  England,  but  when  the  scheme  fell  through,  he  was  only  too 
glad  that  it  did  so.  It  is  to  this  impress  of  Henry's  mind,  and 
of  that  of  Elizabeth,  on  it,  that  the  Church  of  England  owes  its 
peculiar  constitution,  "  if  that,"  to  use  Dr.  Arnold's  words,  "  can  be 
said  to  have  a  constitution  which  never  was  constituted,  but  was 
left  as  avowedly  imperfect  as  Cologne  Cathedral,  where  they  left 
a  crane  standing  on  one  of  the  half-built  towers  three  hundred 
years  ago,  and  have  renewed  it,  from  time  to  time,  as  it  wore 
out ;  as  a  sign,  not  only  that  the  building  was  incomplete,  but 
that  the  friends  of  the  Church  hoped  to  finish  the  great  work 
when  they  could."  ^ 

Had  Cromwell  been  king  instead  of  Henry,  how  different 
might  have  been  the  result ;  with  his  sympathy  with  true  freedom 
of  thought,  his  frank  dislike  of  sacerdotalism,  and  his  grand  as- 
pirations after  a  union  with  all  the  Protestant  powers.  The 
learning  the  New  Testament  by  heart,  had  taught  him  to  set  at 
its  right  value  the  idea  of  a  sacrificing  priesthood,  and  the 
assumption  of  an  external  apostolicity.  His  intellect  and  heart 
alike  refused  to  narrow  the  Church  to  a  sect,  or  its  ministry  to  a 
caste ;  with  him,  in  the  noble  language  of  our  Communion 
Service,  the  Church  was  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  which  is 
the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people,  clergy  and  laity 
alike  ;  and,  feeling  thus,  he  would  have  made  Protestantism  essen- 
tially one  over  Europe.  There  might  then  have  been  no  Thirty 
Years  War,  no  St.  Bartholomew's  Night,  and  there  certainly  would 
have  been  no  revolutionary  protest  against  despotism  in  Church 
and  State,  such  as  cost  Charles  and  Laud  their  heads,  the  country 
a  civil  war,  and  us  the  misfortune  of  seeing  multitudes  of  the 
best  of  her  sons  defending  nonconformity. 

'  See  also  remarks  of  Dr.  S.  Leathes,  in  his  book,  The  Christian  Creed,  323. 


A.D.  1535]  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries.  255 

But  if  the  grand  scheme  for  an  "  Evangelical  Treaty  "  with 
the  Protestant  nations  of  Europe  failed,  through  Henry's  despotic 
hatred  of  union  with  free  communities,  Cromwell  was  soon  busied 
by  his  master  with  a  work  in  which  both  went  heartily  together. 

The  monkish  brotherhoods  of  England  had  at  their  rise  been 
the  glory  of  their  age ;  and  so,  at  a  later  time,  had  been  the 
orders  of  friars  or  brethren.  They  had  embodied  and  displayed 
before  men,  in  a  rude  and  brutal  age,  the  grand  idea  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  industrious  poverty.  They  had  reclaimed  the 
wilderness,  taught  men  the  arts  of  peace,  and  subdued  them  to 
religion.  The  simple  monastery  had  been  a  symbol  of  a  higher 
and  holier  life,  amid  the  rudeness  and  sin  that  swept  like  a  flood 
around..  The  leper,  the  fever-stricken,  and  the  wretched  had 
found,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  brethren,  the  solace  of  human 
sympathy  and  care.  When  -wealth  poured  in,  as  the  inevitable 
tribute  to  moral  grandeur,  the  brotherhoods  for  a  time  exhibited 
the  splendid  spectacle  of  men  using  it  for  others  rather  than 
themselves.  The  great  cathedrals  and  abbeys  rose,  which 
seemed  to  illustrate  by  their  very  grandeur  the  loftiness  of  the 
faith  and  hopes  of  which  they  were  the  shrines.  If  the  peasant 
were  a  serf  in  the  baron's  castle,  he  was  a  freeman  in  the  far 
grander  palaces  of  the  Church.  He  might  be  beneath  all  in 
the  outside  world,  but  he  was  the  equal  of  his  lord  when 
they  met  in  the  stately  temple.  Round  these  wondrous  struc- 
tures there  seemed  to  rest  a  holiness  which  made  even  their 
precincts  sacred,  and  thither  the  wretched  and  endangered 
might  flee,  as  to  a  sanctuary  which  no  violence  could  invade. 
The  public  service  of  God  gave  place  at  intervals  only  to  works 
of  mercy.     It  was  a  vision  of  love  and  heaven. 

But  all  things  human  soon  grow  corrupt ;  and,  even  before 
Wy cliff e's  day,  both  monks  and  friars  had  become  a  byword 
for  their  unworthiness.  Even  under  Edward  III.,  New  College 
in  Oxford  had  been  endowed  by  William  of  Wykeham  with  the 
revenues  of  priories,  used  for  this  purpose  with  the  consent  of 
both  king  and  Pope.     But  the  first  terrible  blow  was  given  to 


256  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  153s. 

the  Orders  at  large  by  Sir  John  Oldcastle's  Bill,  in  1409,  peti- 
tioning the  king  to  secularize  their  property  for  the  good  of  the 
State.^  Though  too  dependent  on  the  Church  to  act  on  such  a 
proposal,  Henry  left  it  to  his  son  to  carry  out  in  part.  More 
than  a  hundred  alien  priories" — that  is,  branches  of  foreign 
monasteries  endowed  with  lands  in  England,  but  still  more  or 
less  subordinate  to  their  parent  house  abroad — were  suppressed 
by  Parliament  in  1414,  and  their  possessions  given  to  the  king 
(Henry  V.)  and  his  heirs,  for  ever.'  That  foreigners,  mostly 
Frenchmen,  should  draw  so  much  revenue  from  England  while 
it  was  at  war  with  France  was  felt  unsafe,  since  they  must 
naturally  be  disloyal.  In  1421,  moreover,  Henry  V.  had  held 
a  meeting  in  the  Chapter  House,  Westminster,  of  sixty  abbots 
and  priors  and  three  hundred  monks,  to  discuss  the  reform  of 
the  monks  of  the  Benedictine  order.  The  rise  of  the  different 
colleges  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge  during  the  fifteenth  century 
was  invariably  the  indication  of  a  further  suppression  of  monkish 
houses.  All  Souls',  in  1437  ;  Magdalen,  in  1459,  were  founded 
in  Oxford  thus;  and  so  were  Jesus  College,  in  1497;  Christ 
College,  in  1505 ;  St.  John's,  in  1508  ;  and  Brazenose,  in  1515, 
at  Cambridge.  It  had  become,  indeed,  a  recognized  prac- 
tice to  divert  the  revenues  of  religious  houses  to  educa- 
tional uses ;  Wolsey  himself,  in  1525,  by  special  license  from 
the  Pope,  showing  the  striking  example  of  suppressing  forty 
lesser  monasteries,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  his  new  college 
at  Oxford,  and  his  smaller  one  at  Ipswich. 

Abbeys  and  monasteries  had,  in  fact,  outlived  their  useful- 
ness. That  they  still  did  some  good  cannot  be  doubted ;  for 
they  were  almost  the  only  schools  till  Colet  founded  that  of  St. 
Paul's,  and  set  the  example  of  discarding  their  faulty  system. 
As  in  Italy  now,  nunneries  offered  quiet  homes  for  the  unmar- 

>  See  page  54. 

«  The  terms  prior  and  priory  differed  in  nothing  essential  from  abbot 
and  abbey.  »  Stow's  Chronicle,  345. 


AD.  15331  Suppression  of  tlie  Monasteries.  257 

ried  daughters  of  the  upper  classes  ;  and  monasteries,  in  the 
same  way,  gave  an  easy  living  to  multitudes  of  idle  or  unsuc- 
cessful men.  As  to  morality,  there  was,  unfortunately,  only  too 
little  restraint ;  as  to  the  enjoyment  of  life,  it  may  be  judged  by 
the  case  of  Tewkesbury,  where  144  servants  in  livery  waited  on 
the  abbot  and  thirty-two  monks. 

That  the  popular  belief  in  the  essentially  corrupt  and  un- 
worthy life  led  in  these  once  sacred  foundations  was  well 
founded,  is  placed  beyond  doubt  by  the  many  attempts  of  the 
Church  authorities  to  reform  them,  before  Henry  hewed  them 
down.  In  1489,  Cardinal  Morton,  then  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, obtained  a  license  from  the  Pope  to  visit  them  every- 
where, and  to  admonish,  correct,  or  punish,  as  he  saw  fit ;  and 
Morton's  letters  to  various  houses  show  only  too  sadly  how  much 
need  there  was  for  rigorous  measures.  The  worst  charges  of 
Henry's  visitors  are  anticipated  by  the  archbishop.  Monkish 
life  had  become  a  scandal  too  great  to  be  much  longer  en- 
dured. 

It  was  intolerable  that  large  bodies  of  men  should  live  in  idle- 
ness, waited  on  by  troops  of  servants,  when  the  revenues  thus 
wasted  had  been  given  for  the  support  of  learning,  the  exercise 
of  hospitality,  and  the  relief  of  the  old,  the  infirm,  and  the  poor : 
that  institutions  which  were  bound  by  their  statutes  to  have 
a  certain  number  of  members  should  deliberately  allow  that 
number  to  sink  to  half  or  even  a  third,  that  there  might  be  more 
money  to  divide  among  the  rest :  above  all,  that  there  should 
be,  over  England,  a  vast  network  of  establishments,  nominally 
for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  edification  of  the  people  by  a 
righteous  example,  but  in  practice  worldly,  grasping,  sensual, 
and  hypocritical.  Erasmus  had,  in  fact,  sounded  the  knell  of 
the  monks  and  friars  of  all  orders  by  the  issue  of  his  "  Praise  of 
Folly,"  in  151 1,  with  its  biting  satire,  and  ridicule  of  their  pre- 
tensions and  corruptions.  England  and  all  Europe  had  joined 
in  the  contempt  he  had  raised  at  them,  and  nothing  is  so  deadly 
to  religious  pretence  as  its  being  pricked  to  a  collapse  by  ironical 


258  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1535. 

wit.  Here  is  one  picture  of  them  by  the  great  scholar,  from 
many  equally  caustic.  "  Though  held  in  such  execration  by 
everybody  that  it  is  thought  unlucky  even  to  meet  them  by  chance, 
they  are,  nevertheless,  immensely  in  love  with  themselves.  In 
the  first  place,  they  think  it  the  height  of  piety  to  have  so  little 
taste  for  learning  as  to  be  unable  even  to  read.  In  the  next 
place,  when  they  roar  out  in  church,  with  voices  harsh  as  the 
braying  of  a  donkey,  their  daily  count  of  psalms — the  notes  of 
which  they  follow,  to  be  sure,  but  not  the  meaning — they  fancy 
they  are  charming  the  ears  of  the  saints  with  the  divinest  music. 
There  are  some  of  them,  too,  who  make  a  good  profit  out  of  dirt 
and  mendicity,  begging  their  bread  from  door  to  door  with  a 
great  deal  of  noise.  Nay,  they  press  into  all  the  public-houses, 
get  into  the  stage-coaches,  come  on  board  the  passage-boats,  to 
the  great  loss  and  damage  of  the  regular  highway  beggars. 
And  this  is  the  way  these  most  sweet  men,  by  their  dirt,  their 
ignorance,  their  brutal  vulgarity,  and  their  impudence,  imitate 
the  apostles — so  they  have  the  assurance  to  tell  us." 

The  popular  feeling  of  the  day  respecting  monks  and  friars, 
thus  embodied  for  the  educated  in  the  satire  of  Erasmus,  is  more 
broadly  but  as  effectively  reflected  in  "  The  Supplication  of  the 
Beggars,"a  pamphlet  published  originally  in  1527,  and  immensely 
popular  in  the  following  years.  It  purported  to  be  a  petition  to 
the  king  from  the  legitimate  beggars  of  the  realm, "  the  wretched 
hideous  monsters,  on  whom  scarcely  for  horror  any  eye  dare  look : 
the  foul,  unhappy  sort  of  lepers,  and  other  sore  people,  needy, 
impotent,  blind,  lame,  sick,  that  live  only  by  alms."  It  com- 
plained that  they  were  left  to  die  of  hunger  because  "  another 
sort,  not  of  impotent,  but  of  strong,  puissant,  and  counterfeit, 
holy  and  idle  beggars  and  vagabonds,"  had  "  craftily  crept  into 
the  realm,"  and  had  "increased  into  a  kingdom."  These 
beggars  were  the  "  bishops,  abbots,  priors,  deacons,  archdeacons, 
suffragans,  priests,  monks,  canons,  friars,  pardoners,^  and  sum- 

*  Sellers  of  indulgences. 


A.D.  1535]  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries.  259 

ners."'  They  "  had  begged  so  importunately  that  they  had  got 
into  their  hands  more  than  the  third  part  of  all  the  realm." 
"  The  goodliest  lordships,  manors,  lands,  and  territories,  are  theirs. 
Besides  this,  they  have  the  tenth  part  of  all  the  com,  meadow, 
pasture,  grass,  wood,  colts,  calves,  lambs,  pigs,  geese,  and 
chickens.  Over  and  besides,  the  tenth  part  of  every  servant's 
wages,  the  tenth  part  of  wool,  milk,  honey,  wax,  cheese,  and 
butter,  and  they  look  so  narrowly  to  their  profits,  that  the 
poor  wives  must  be  countable  to  them  for  every  tenth  ^^g,  or 
else  she  does  not  get  her  rights  at  Easter,  and  is  taken  for  a 
heretic.  Besides  this,  they  have  their  foui  offering-days.  What 
money  do  they  not  pull  in  by  probates  of  wills,  privy-tithes, 
offerings  at  pilgrimages,  and  at  their  first  masses?  Every  man- 
child  that  is  buried  must  pay  something  for  masses  and  dirges 
to  be  sung  for  him,  or  else  they  will  accuse  the  friends  and 
executors  of  heresy.  What  money  do  they  not  get  by  mor- 
tuaries, by  hearing  confessions  (and  yet  they  do  not  keep  them 
secret),  by  consecrating  churches,  altars,  super-altars,  chapels, 
and  bells;  by  cursing  men  and  absolving  them  again  for  money? 
What  a  multitude  of  money  the  pardoners  gather  in  a  year  I 
How  much  money  the  sumners  get  by  extortion  in  a  year,  by 
citing  the  people  to  the  Commissary's  Court,  and  afterwards 
releasing  them  for  money !  Finally,  what  do  the  infinite  num- 
ber of  begging  friars  get  in  a  year  ? " 

The  difiiculty  of  raising  the  taxes  granted  the  king  for  the  use 
of  the  country  is,  then,  ascribed  to  the  general  poverty  caused 
by  the  exactions  of  the  bishops  and  Orders.  "  Lay  these  sums 
to  the  aforesaid  third  part  of  the  possessions  of  the  realm,  and 
you  may  see  whether  it  draws  nigh  to  the  half  of  the  whole 
substance  of  it,  or  not ;  indeed,  you  shall  find  it  is  far  more  than 
the  half." 

The  use  made  of  all  this  wealth  by  "  this  greedy  sort  of  sturdy, 
holy,  idle  thieves  "  is  said  only  to  be  to  "  exempt  themselves  from 

^  Officers  who  sammoned  persons  to  the  ecclesiastical  courts. 


26o  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1535. 

obedience  to  the  king,"  and  "  to  transfer  all  rule,  power,  lord- 
ship, authority,  obedience,  and  dignity,  from  him  to  them- 
selves." "  The  realm  wrongfully  stands  tributary,  not  to  any 
temporal  prince,  but  to  a  cruel,  devilish  blood-supper  "  (the  Pope) 
"drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints  and  martyrs  of  Christ." 

Their  immorality  is  next  assailed.  Their  licentiousness  is 
declared  to  have  "  debauched  and  turned  into  poor  profligates 
100,000  women  in  England."  Yet,  "  who  is  he,  though  he  be 
never  so  much  aggrieved,  who  dare  lay  to  their  charge,  by  any 
action  at  law,  even  the  leading  astray  of  a  wife  or  daughter,  a 
trespass,  debt,  injury  to  person,  or  any  other  offence  ?  If  he 
do,  he  is,  by-and-by,  accused  of  heresy." 

No  excommunicated  man,  it  is  added,  can  sue  any  action  in 
the  king's  courts.  All  knew  the  result  in  Hunne's  case,  and 
every  year  showed  others  not  much  different.  Had  the  priests 
and  monks  not  laughed  to  scorn  the  Statute  of  Mortmain, 
leaving  the  king  only  one  half  of  his  realm  ? 

The  pretence  of  delivering  souls  from  purgatory  is  then  stated 
to  be  the  only  "  colour  for  these  yearly  exactions."  But  "  many 
men  of  great  literature  and  judgment,  for  the  love  they  bear  to 
the  truth,  have  not  feared  to  put  themselves  in  peril  of  death,  by 
maintaining  that  there  is  no  purgatory,  but  that  it  is  an  invention 
of  the  priests,  for  their  own  ends.  If,  moreover,  they  or  the 
Pope  can  really  deliver  souls  from  it,  and  will  pray  for  no  man 
who  does  not  pay  them,  they  are  tyrants,  and  have  no  charity." 

The  "  Supplication  "  ends  with  the  rough  advice,  noteworthy 
as  a  sign  of  the  times — "  Tie  these  holy  idle  thieves  to  the  carts, 
to  be  whipped  naked  about  every  market  town  till  they  fall  to 
labour." 

That  such  an  attack  on  the  established  Church,  in  all  its 
orders,  should  have  been  immensely  popular,  is  the  best  proof 
of  its  having  lost  public  respect.  Nor  was  the  "  Supplication  " 
read  only  by  the  masses  of  the  people ;  it  found  its  way,  through 
Anne  Boleyn,  to  the  king,  who  thought  so  well  of  it  that  he 
forced  Sir  Thomas  More  to  withdraw  proceedings  against  its 


A.n.  1535-]  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries.  26 1 

author,  and  even  had  him  brought  to  court  to  a  private  audience. 
More  himself  wrote  a  Reply,  but  it  had  no  effect  in  abating  the 
popularity  of  the  attack. 

To  Henry,  however,  the  wealth  of  the  abbeys  and  monasteries 
was,  doubtless,  even  more  tempting  than  any  hope  of  purifying 
the  moral  atmosphere  by  their  suppression.  Their  independence 
of  the  national  Church  authorities,  by  special  Papal  immunities, 
was,  moreover,  itself  enough  to  make  him  their  enemy.  No 
bishop  could  touch  them.  Morton  and  Wolsey  had  tried  it,  but 
had  utterly  failed.  It  was  a  saying  that  the  monks  were  the 
Pope's  garrison  in  England.  They  held  their  privileges  direct 
from  him,  and  naturally  felt  that  they  were  his  servants  first, 
and  Englishmen  next.  Everything  united  to  band  them  against 
the  Reformation.  They  belonged  to  the  past,  and  saw  their 
destruction  in  the  new  order  of  things.  Bitter  proof  had 
already  been  given  that  every  monastery  was  a  fortress  held  for 
the  enemy  who,  even  now,  was  only  waiting  a  fitting  moment  to 
release  all  Henry's  subjects  from  their  allegiance.  Political 
necessity  joined  conveniently  with  the  prospect  of  unlimited 
plunder  to  hasten  the  suppression  of  the  whole  monkish  system. 

It  is  hard  for  us,  at  this  day,  to  realize  the  state  of  things 
then.  Twenty-seven  of  the  mitred  abbots  and  priors  ranked  as 
barons  of  England,  and  sat,  or  might  sit,  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  with  the  bishops ;  and  the  wealth  of  some  of  them  was 
enormous.  Sixteen  had  a  revenue  of  which  the  highest  was 
equal,  in  our  money,  to  ^48,000  a  year,  and  the  lowest  to 
/" 1 2,000.  Six  abbots  who  were  not  barons  had  equal  to  over 
;^i 2,000  a  year;  and  the  remaining  eleven  of  those  who  were 
peers  of  the  realm  had  from  ;^5,ooo  to  ;^i  2,000.^  How  much 
lordly  splendour  of  palaces,  grounds,  retinues,  and  living 
must  such  princely  incomes  have  implied.     The  description  of 


•  See  in  Fuller's  Church  History,  ii.  210.  I  have  assumed  that  money 
was  then  worth  twelve  times  as  much  as  now,  which  is  rather  under  tlian 
over  the  truth. 


262  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1535. 

such  an  abbey  as  Glastonbur}'  is  a  picture  of  almost  ideal 
luxury  and  worldly  glory. 

As  a  first  step  towards  the  suppression  of  the  "  religious 
houses,"  Henry  appointed  Cromwell,  in  the  summer  of  1535, 
visitor-general  of  all  monasteries,  by  virtue  of  the  power  granted 
by  the  Act  of  Supremacy,  to  which  a  clause  authorizing  such 
a  visitation  had  been  appended.  No  one  could  have  been 
better  fitted  for  the  office,  either  by  previous  training,  or  by  his 
zeal  for  that  freedom  of  conscience  of  which  the  monks  were 
the  natural  enemies.  While  in  Wolsey's  service  he  had  been 
employed  to  break  up  the  lesser  monasteries,  whose  revenues 
were  to  be  transferred  to  the  cardinal's  new  college  and  school, 
and  he  r\pw  had  Henry  thoroughly  with  him. 

The  first  step  was  to  appoint  visitors  to  report  on  the  state  of 
all  monastic  establishments,  of  whatever  name.  By  October 
they  were  at  work,  and  so  zealously  did  they  execute  their  task, 
that  they  were  ready  to  report  to  Parliament  at  its  meeting  in 
February,  The  details  are  in  too  many  cases  unfit  for  quotation, 
but  the  condition  of  the  mass  may  be  judged  by  the  words  of 
so  fierce  a  Papist  as  Stokesley,  Bishop  of  London — that  "  the 
lesser  houses  were  as  thorns,  soon  plucked  up,  but  the  grlsat 
abbots  were  like  putrefied  old  oaks  "^ — or  by  the  fact  that  when 
the  reports  of  the  visitors  were  presented  to  Parliament  they 
roused  such  a  feeling  that  the  cry  broke  out  on  all  sides,  "  Down 
with  them  !  down  with  them  ! " 

*  Burnet,  i.  396. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

QUEEN  ANNE  BOLEYN. 

TETE  new  year  (1536)  was  ushered  in  by  the  death  of  Queen 
Catherine,  on  the  7th  January,  at  Kimbolton,  where  she 
had  lived  for  three  months,  slowly  dying.  She  had  had  the 
residence  and  household  of  a  princess,  but  what  can  minister  to 
a  mind  diseased  ?  She  had  survived  her  divorce  two  years  and 
seven  months,  resolute  to  the  last  in  her  denunciation  of  it,  and 
in  her  efforts  to  interest  the  Pope  and  her  nephew  on  her 
behalf.  Her  fear  had  been  only  too  well  founded  that  a 
marriage  for  which  murder  had  opened  the  way  could  not  have 
the  blessing  of  God.  The  ghost  of  Warwick  was  her  Nemesis. 
Queen  Anne  was  at  last  freed  from  her  rival,  and  showed  her 
joy  with  equal  simplicity,  bad  taste,  and  fatal  result.  It  is  only 
the  first  step  that  is  hard,  and,  had  she  realized  it,  Henry,  having 
thrust  aside  the  wife  of  his  youth,  after  living  with  her,  or  at  least 
being  her  husband,  for  twenty-four  years,  was  at  best  an  un- 
certain prize  for  her  successor.  Anne  had  been  married  now 
for  three  years,  but  for  more  than  two  of  them  had  had  increas- 
ing cause  to  feel  that  Henry  had  soon  tired  of  her  and  wished 
her  out  of  his  way.  Even  so  far  back  as  before  the  birth  of 
Elizabeth,  on  the  7th  of  September,  1533,  she  had  found  that 
he  was  consulting  astrologers  and  sorcerers  whether  he  should 
have  a  son.  His  rage  had  been  so  wild  when  a  daughter  was 
bom  that  no  one  seemed  safe  against  his  violence,  and  she 


264  The  English  Reformation.  ca.d.  1536. 

herself  had  been  frightened  by  his  fury.  He  was  now  forty-two, 
and  a  sore,  which  never  afterwards  healed,  was  opening  in  his 
leg,  affecting  his  health  so  much  that  his  physicians  feared  he 
might  die  within  a  year.  For  nine  years  he  had  hoped  for  a 
son,  but  the  Pope  had  kept  off  his  new  marriage  for  eight,  and 
now  he  had  only  another  unfortunate  girl.  How  would  it  be 
with  the  succession  should  he  leave  no  male  heir  ?  His  father 
had  gained  the  throne  by  an  accident ;  and  though  most  of  the 
rightful  heirs  had  been  murdered,  there  were  still  some  who 
might  push  a  daughter  aside. 

Enemies  of  all  kinds  were  round  Anne  on  every  side,  and  she 
was  as  frank  and  natural  as  Catherine  had  been  stately  and 
reserved,  so  that  there  was  no  want  of  opportunities  for  perver- 
sion and  slander.  Fanatical  priests  hovered  near,  to  whom  any 
course,  however  infamous,  that  might  remove  her,  was  a  glorious 
service  to  Holy  Church ;  for  was  she  not  a  heretic  and  the  great 
patroness  of  heresy  .''  Her  position,  moreover,  stood  in  the  way 
of  the  advancement  of  rival  aspirants  to  the  succession.  Could 
she  and  her  daughter  be  put  out  of  the  way,  two  families  might 
hope  for  aggrandisement.  The  daughters  of  Mary,  Henry's 
sister,  and  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  would  in  that  case  be  near  the 
throne.  The  Earl  of  Dorset  had  married  one  of  them  and  thus 
joined  Suffolk  as  Anne's  enemy.  The  daughter  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  Anne's  uncle,  was  married  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond, 
son  of  Henry  and  EUzabeth  Blount,  and  there  was  good  reason 
to  believe  that,  if  Anne  and  Elizabeth  were  gone,  Richmond,  now 
seventeen  years  of  age,  might  be  king,  and  Norfolk's  daughter 
queen.  The  old  families,  moreover,  were  jealous  of  the  ad- 
vancement to  the  throne  of  the  descendant  in  the  third  genera- 
tion of  a  London  merchant.^  There  was,  besides,  the  old 
deadly  feud  between  her  and  the  partisans  of  Catherine,  and 
with  this,  as  I  have  said,  the  still  more  extended  hatred  of  her 
as  the  friend  of  the  Reformation. 


Godfrey  Boleyn  :  Anne's  father  was  his  grandson. 


A.D,  1536.]  Qiteen  Anne  Boleyn.  265 

Added  to  all,  Henry  had,  in  fact,  already  chosen  her  successor. 
Even  before  the  birth  of  Elizabeth  the  French  ambassador 
noticed  that  "  he  had  a  new  fancy,  and  that  his  regard  for 
Anne  was  less  than  it  had  been,  and  diminished  daily."  ^  The 
Spanish  envoy  had  noticed  the  same.  A  year  later  the  "  dis-. 
pleasure  he  had  conceived  against  her  "  was  mentioned  in  the 
instructions  of  the  emperor  himself.^  Her  zeal  for  the  Refor- 
mation was  itself  an  offence,  for  she  was  as  broad  and  charitable 
as  Henry  was  Romish  and  bigoted.  She  had  besought  him  to 
seek  support  in  Germany,  and  to  form  an  Evangelical  League 
of  all  Protestants.  Italian  cardinals  had  been  ousted,  partly 
through  her,  from  two  English  bishoprics,  and  Latimer  and 
Shaxton  put  in  their  place.  Above  all,  Cranmer  was  getting 
his  English  Bible  ready  for  publication,  thanks  to  her  favour. 
Gardiner,  now  at  Paris,  felt  that  not  a  moment  must  be  lost. 
If  Anne  were  not  destroyed,  England  would  be  hopelessly  cut  off 
from  Rome.  The  wily  bishop,  therefore,  hinted  that  some  plot 
might  be  contrived  to  accuse  her  to  the  king.  Her  open,  un- 
suspicious nature  made  it  easy  to  fix  any  charge  against  her 
now  that  Henry  was  tired  of  her.  But  the  time  had  not  yet 
come,  for  Anne  was  again  expecting  to  have  a  son. 

Absolute  power  and  unbridled  passion  had  wrought  their 
worst  on  Henry.  The  failure  of  the  German  negotiations 
infuriated  him  as  a  personal  affront,  and  Anne  was  in  disgrace. 
Catherine  had  died  on  the  7th  January,  1536,  and  for  the 
moment  Henry  had  raved  about  "  his  brave  old  Kate,"  but  this 
did  not  keep  him  from  running  after  Jane  Seymour.  While  the 
old  queen  lay  yet  unburied,  Anne,  going  suddenly  into  a  room, 
found  Jane  and  the  king  together,  alone ;  she  on  his  knee, 
receiving  and  returning  his  caresses.  Anne,  stricken  to  the 
heart,  naturally  showed  her  sorrow,  but  Henry,  fearing  for  his 
son  yet  unborn,  leaped  up  and  tried  to  calm  her,  with  the 
assurance  "  Peace,  sweetheart,  all  shall  yet  go  well  for  thee." 

'  Quoted  by  Fruude,  ii.  64.  '  November,  1534. 


266  The  English  Reformation.  fa-d.  1536. 

But  the  only  peace  for  her,  henceforth,  was  the  grave.  On 
January  29th,  the  day  fixed  for  Catherine's  funeral,  she  was 
confined  of  a  dead  son. 

Her  doom  was  fixed.  No  sooner  had  the  news  been  an- 
nounced than  Henry  burst  into  her  chamber  in  a  fury,  and  told 
the  pale,  exhausted  woman,  "It  is  now  too  sure  that  God  will 
give  me  no  male  heir  by  you."  In  her  weakness  she  could  not 
speak,  and  turning  away  he  left  her  with  the  shameless  words, 
"  When  you  get  up  I'll  speak  to  you  again."  She  had  been  ill 
for  weeks  before,  and  her  recovery  was  slow.  Meanwhile  Henry 
came  again  to  see  her,  and  Anne  tried,  in  her  sad  way,  to  soothe 
him  by  saying  that  she  would  have  a  son  by-and-by.  "  I  will 
have  no  more  boys  with  you  for  mother,"  replied  the  monster. 
"  It  is  your  unkindness  that  has  killed  our  son,"  groaned  the 
outraged  woman.^ 

The  conspirators  needed  only  to  seize  some  favourable 
moment,  and  Anne  was  lost. 

Parliament  met  on  the  4ih  of  February,  1536,  and  at  once 
set  to  work  at  the  suppression  of  all  monasteries  with  an  income 
not  exceeding  ;^200  a  year,  equal  to  ^^2,400  of  our  money. 
No  fewer  than  three  hundred  and  seventy-six  fell  under  this  first 
stroke,**  yielding  an  aggregate  yearly  value,  at  a  low  rate,  of  not 
less  than  ^32,000,  or  ;^384,ooo  at  the  present  value  of  money. 
Their  cattle,  furniture,  plate,  &c.,  were  worth  fully  ;^i, 200,000,^ 
besides.  Latimer  and  Cranmer  pleaded  hard  that  three  or  four 
should  be  retained  in  every  county,  as  peaceful  retirements  and 
centres  of  Christian  hospitality  and  benevolence.  The  funds 
derived  from  the  rest,  they  wished  to  be  devoted,  at  least  in 
part,  to  the  establishment  of  "  seminaries  of  sound  learned  and 
religious  education,"  or  as  it  is  worded  by  Strype,  "  that  from 
these  ruins  there  would  be  new  foundations  erected  in  every 
cathedral,  to  be  nurseries  of  learning,  for  the  whole  diocese,"* 

'  See  the  story  in  full  in  Dixon's  Two  Queens,  iv.  259,  ff. 
*  Burnet's  Reform,  i.  447.  »  At  the  present  value  of  money. 

*  Strype's  Memoir  of  Cranmer,  i.  73. 


A.D.  1536.]  Qtieen  Anne  Boleyn,  26y 

and  that  more  bishoprics  might  be  founded  so  as  to  bring 
dioceses  to  a  more  manageable  size.  Unfortunately  their 
counsel  fell  on  deaf  ears,  for  Henry  wanted  the  money  for 
himself,  to  bribe  a  party  to  support  him.  A  little  later,  all  was 
gone,  part  for  public  expenses,  more  on  Henry's  personal  ex- 
travagance, and  the  rest  in  grants  and  cheap  sales  to  laymen. 

Meanwhile  the  toils  were  being  drawn  over  the  unhappy 
queen.  Various  schemes  had  been  thought  of  for  getting  her 
out  of  the  way,  but  all  had  failed.  At  last,  Gardiner,  who 
hated  her  mortally  for  her  friendship  for  Cranmer  and  Latimer, 
and  her  favour  to  reform,  pretended  that  he  had  seen  some 
letters  in  Paris  accusing  her  of  adultery.  Yet  for  months  back 
she  had  been  lying,  an  invalid,  on  her  couch,  and  even  the  bitter 
foes  around  her  had  never  whispered  a  word  against  her  purity. 
Not  even  Charles's  envoy  breathes  a  suspicion  of  such  a  charge, 
or  of  any  other,  though  he  would  only  too  gladly  have  done  so. 
On  the  14th  April,  the  Parliament  which  had  accomplished  the 
national  separation  from  Rome,  was  dissolved,  and  the  writs  for 
a  new  one  were  issued  for  the  6th  of  June.  In  the  short  interval 
of  seven  weeks  Anne  must  be  disposed  of.  Ten  days  after  the 
dissolution,  Audley,  "  the  sordid  slave,"  and  Rich,  "  the  base  and 
profligate,"^  were  set  to  manufacture  evidence,  and  within  a 
week  Anne  heard  that  her  enemies  were  trying  to  get  up  a 
scandalous  charge  against  her.  On  the  2nd  of  May  she  was 
summoned,  at  Greenwich,  before  a  secret  commission  appointed 
to  manage  the  matter.  They  were  not  ready  with  any  charge, 
and  so  none  was  made,  but  they  hoped  to  get  something  that 
might  be  perverted  to  the  support  of  their  plot  from  Anne  her- 
self. Norfolk  bore  himself  to  her  with  coarse  hostility,  inter- 
rupting her  constantly  with  "  Tut,  tut,"  and  shaking  his  head  at 
her  words.  Leaving  the  room,  she  went  to  the  nursery,  and  taking 
her  child  in  her  arms,  stepped  towards  Henry,  who  was  at  the 
window,  looking  out  at  the  crowd  below.    But  nothing  could 

*  These  are  Lord  Campbell's  epithets. 


268  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1536. 

touch  a  bosom  like  his.  Calling  her  servants  soon  after,  she  set 
off  in  her  barge  for  Westminster,  but  another  boat  followed, 
bearing  Audley,  Norfolk,  and  some  other  conspirators,  who 
arrested  her,  midway  to  London  Bridge,  on  the  charge  of  infi- 
delity to  the  king.  It  was  useless  for  her  to  protest  her  inno- 
cence ;  the  barge  was  turned  towards  the  Tower,  and  she  was 
handed  over  as  a  prisoner.  Scarcely  recovered  from  the  birth 
of  her  still-born  child,  she  was  now  to  find  that  not  only  her 
husband,  and  her  uncle,  but  even  her  father,  unmanned  by  fear 
of  the  tyrant,  had  been  long  in  the  secret  of  her  destined  fate, 
while  outwardly  full  of  respect  to  her ;  and  that  her  brother, 
Lord  Rochford,  and  four  others,  were  overwhelmed  in  the  same 
ruin  as  herself.  It  was  one  of  the  worst  traits  of  Henry,  indeed, 
that  he  had  learned  to  hide  even  his  purpose  to  murder  under  a 
mask  of  familiarity  and  kindness.  "  Three  may  keep  counsel," 
said  he  to  Cavendish,  "  if  two  be  away ;  and  if  I  thought  that 
my  cap  knew  my  counsel,  I  would  cast  it  into  the  fire,  and 
bum  it." 

Cranmer  was  forthwith  forbidden  the  court,  for  he  might 
have  disconcerted  the  plans  of  the  conspirators.  Anne,  mean- 
while, on  reaching  the  Tower,  had  at  once  written  the  king  a 
letter,  so  exquisite  in  its  simplicity  and  transparent  innocence 
that  it  might  have  moved  any  heart  but  his.  She  told  him  that 
never  prince  had  wife  more  loyal  than  she  had  been  to  him. 
"Try  me,  good  king,"  said  she,  "but  let  me  have  a  lawful 
trial,  and  let  not  my  sworn  enemies  sit  as  my  accusers  and 
judges ;  yet,  let  me  receive  an  open  trial,  for  my  truth  shall 
fear  no  open  shame."  The  charge  she  pronounced  "  an 
infamous  slander  ;"  the  poor  gentlemen  in  strait  imprisonment 
for  her  sake  were  "  innocent,"  as  well  as  herself.^ 

The  next  day  Cranmer  also  wrote  the  king  venturing  as  far 
in  the  queen's  behalf  as  was  possible  with  such  a  man.  "  He 
never  had  better  opinion  in  woman  than  he  had  in  her,  which 

*  Brewer's  Letters  and  Papers  (Henry  VIII.)    Introd.  p.  521. 


AD.  1536.1  Queen  Anne  Boleyn.  269 

makes  me  think  that  she  should  not  be  culpable."  But  all  was 
in  vain.     The  axe  was  already  sharpened. 

On  the  loth  and  nth  of  May,  true  bills  were  returned 
against  the  queen,  her  brother,  three  other  gentlemen,  and  a 
person  of  "  low  degree,"  a  youth,  Mark  Smeaton,  whose  musical 
gifts  had  brought  him  about  the  court. 

These  bills  set  forth  that  the  queen  had  incited  them  during 
three  years  back,  that  is,  almost  ever  since  her  marriage,  to 
commit  the  most  odious  crime ;  that  they  had  at  various  times 
compassed  and  imagined  the  king's  death,  and  that  the  king, 
having  heard  of  these  crimes,  had  been  so  grieved  that  certain 
harms  and  dangers  had  happened  to  his  royal  body.  This 
referred  to  the  ulcers  on  his  legs,  now  of  long  standing — 
caused  by  his  gross  habit  of  body,  and  ending  in  his  death 
eleven  years  later.  These,  the  slavish  jury  found,  were  caused 
by  grief,  though  his  sorrow  was  so  light  as  to  permit  his  marry- 
ing Jane  Seymour  the  day  after  Anne  was  murdered.  They 
knew  it  was  at  the  peril  of  their  lives  if  they  refused  to  gratify 
the  king  by  finding  the  bills  as  he  desired,  for  had  he  not 
threatened  to  have  Montague's  head,  years  before,  if  even  the 
House  of  Commons  crossed  him  ? 

Who  can  believe  that  Anne  could  have  dared  to  lead  a  life  so 
dissolute  in  a  court  where  many  enemies  watched  her  every  word 
and  slightest  act  ?  One  was  accused  of  an  offence  committed 
at  Westminster,  commencing  on  the  6th,  and  completed  on  the 
1 2th  of  October,  1533 — that  is,  a  month  after  the  birth  of 
Elizabeth.  But  shameful  as  this  accusation  was,  its  infamy 
pales  before  that  of  the  last  in  the  indictment,  by  which  Anne's 
own  brother  was  charged  with  an  offence  commencing  on  the 
2nd,  and  completed  on  the  5th  day  of  November,  1535 — 
that  is,  a  few  weeks  before  the  queen  was  delivered  of  her  dead 
son ! 

The  four  commoners  were  tried  next  day,  the  1 2th,  and  all 
knew  that  to  turn  king's  evidence  was  the  only  hope  of  life. 
But  all,  except  Smeaton,  indignantly  denied  the  charges.     How 


270  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1536. 

unlikely  that  while  the  three  gentlemen  repudiated  with  horror 
any  imputation  on  the  queen,  a  youth  of  humble  social  rank 
should  be  the  single  person  who  had  the  queen  in  his  power. 
Nor  do  we  know  how  far  his'  confession  extended,  what  were  its 
conditions,  or  how  it  was  obtained.  To  extract  some  admission 
from  a  poor  youth  of  humble  birth  was  easy,  whether  from 
playing  with  his  hope  of  life,  or  by  torture.  Milman,  indeed, 
in  his  splendid  drama  of  "Anne  Boleyn,"  may  be  right  in 
picturing  him  as  led  by  Anne's  priestly  enemies  to  accuse  him- 
self falsely, — for  the  lowly  innocent  worship  he  bore  her  good- 
ness,— on  the  assurance  that  if  faithlessness  were  sworn  against 
her,  she  might  be  divorced,  but  could  not  be  put  to  death 

The  conspirators,  eager  to  destroy  their  victim,  repeatedly 
tempted  the  prisoners  with  offers  of  life  if  they  would  say  any- 
thing against  her,  and  each  was  told,  falsely,  that  the  others  had 
confessed.  The  confessional,  also,  was  doubtless  used,  for 
every  priest  was  the  natural  enemy  of  Anne,  but  nothing  would 
make  either  of  the  three  knights  accused  breathe  a  word  against 
an  innocent  woman,  though  they  knew  the  horrible  death  before 
them  if  they  stood  firm. 

On  the  1 5th,  Anne  and  her  brother  were  tried  within  the 
Tower,  so  that  the  public  might  be  excluded — Audley,  the 
unscrupulous  tool  of  Henry,  presiding.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
the  deadly  enemy  of  the  Boleyns,  assisted  by  twenty-six  "  lords 
triers,"  formed  the  court.  The  list  was  chosen  by  Norfolk,  and 
did  not  include  one  friend  of  the  New  Learning,  nor  a  smgle 
person  who  had  ever  been  friendly  to  the  queen.  The  pretenders 
to  the  crown,  and  their  connections,  with  some  kinsmen  of  the 
king,  made  it  up.  Nor  did  they  dare  to  hold  the  trial  in  West- 
minster. Anne's  father  had  been  forced  to  sit  in  the  secret  com- 
mission which  trumped  up  accusations  against  her,^  and  was  now 
compelled,  on  pain  of  death,  to  sit  as  one  of  her  judges,  to  give 

'  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn  receives  an  excellent  character  from  Erasmus. 
See  Strype's  Cranmer,  i.  7.     See  also  page  152. 


A.D.  1536.]  Queen  Anne  Boleyn.  271 

the  trial  an  appearance  of  fairness.  It  marks,  above  all,  the 
vileness  of  the  times,  that  her  brother  found  his  wife,  that 
"detestable  woman,"  as  Sir  James  Mackintosh  calls  her,  the 
chief  perjurer  against  him. 

The  queen,  having  been  called  to  the  bar,  appeared  without 
an  adviser,  and  attended  only  by  ignorant  and  treacherous 
women  of  her  household.  But  "  it  was  everywhere  muttered 
abroad  that  she,  in  her  defence,  had  cleared  herself  in  a  most 
noble  speech."^  There  were  no  witnesses  confronted  with  either 
her  or  her  brother,  Smeaton,  who  alone  had  ventured  to  charge 
her  with  guilt,  had  been  shrewdly  put  out  of  the  way  two  days 
before.  To  be  accused  was  thus,  necessarily,  to  be  condemned. 
All  the  writers  who  lived  near  her  time  speak  of  the  complete- 
ness of  her  defence.  "  She  made  such  wise  and  discreet 
answers  that  she  seemed  fully  to  clear  herself.'"  But  "  the  awful 
spirit  of  fanaticism  arrayed  against  our  early  Reformers"* 
thirsted  for  her  blood  as  one  of  them.  Hope  to  get  nearer  the 
throne  by  her  fall,  as  well  as  hatred  of  her  race,  filled  at  least 
Norfolk's  breast ;  and,  moreover,  Henry's  pleasure  was  known, 
and  her  judges'  lives  would  answer  for  hers  if  she  were  spared. 
She  listened  with  unchanged  face  to  the  sentence  of  death  pro- 
nounced by  her  uncle,  and  then,  clasping  her  hands,  turned  her 
eyes  towards  heaven  and  uttered  a  short  prayer — "  Oh,  Father 
of  mankind  !  the  way,  the  life,  and  the  truth,  Thou  knowest 
whether  I  have  deserved  this  death."  Then,  turning  to  her 
judges,  she  told  them — "  I  have  ever  been  faithful  to  the  king, 
though  I  do  not  say  that  I  have  not  been  wanting  in  due 
humility,  and  have  allowed  my  fancy  to  nurse  some  foolish 
jealousy  of  him.  Other  misdeeds  against  him  I  have  never 
committed." 

The  whole  trial  had  been  so  utter  a  mockery,  that  Henry 
had   sent  word   to   Jane   Seymour,  in  the  morning,   that   all 

*  Wyatt,  in  Singer's  Cavendish,  448.  2  HolinshecU  iii.  796. 

*  Milman,  Introd.  to  Anne  Buleyn:  A  Dramatic  Poem. 

18 


2/2  TJie  English  Reformation.  [ad.  153& 

would  soon  be  over,  and  that  by  three  in  the  afternoon  he 
should  be  able  to  send  her  word  of  the  queen's  condemnation. 
As  reported  by  contemporaries,  the  whole  scene  was  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  judicial  murders. 

Anne  having  been  sentenced,  her  brother  was  brought  before 
the  same  packed  bench  of  enemies,  and,  as  in  his  sister's  case, 
he  had  no  counsel,  and  no  witnesses  were  brought  forward 
against  him.  But  he  spoke  so  well,  and  his  innocence  was  so 
apparent,  that  it  seemed  likely  he  would  be  acquitted.  His 
death  had  been  ordered,  however,  and  the  slaves  who  acted  for 
Henry  obeyed. 

After  his  condemnation,  Norfolk  followed  him  to  his  cell, 
hoping  to  get  a  confession  from  him,  at  last,  to  save  the  king's 
honour.  But  he  resolutely  maintained  his  perfect  innocence, 
and  that  of  his  sister.  From  him  the  duke  went  to  Anne's 
room,  but  was  met  by  a  declaration  that  "  on  her  salvation  she 
had  committed  no  offence." 

No  favour  was  asked  by  the  condemned  men  but  a  little 
time  to  prepare  for  death,  yet  that  was  denied  them.  Henry 
sent  orders  that  they  should  die  on  Wednesday,  only  thirty-six 
hours  after  Rochford's  sentence,  and  five  days  after  the  earlier 
sentences.  An  appeal  was  made  by  the  Constable  of  the  Tower 
for  a  little  longer  respite,  but  the  king  would  not  hear  of  it, 
unless  they  confessed.  There  was  a  danger  that  seemed  appalling 
in  that  age,  that  Rochford  would  die  without  time  for  absolution. 
But  Henry  did  not  care  for  that.  A  king's  messenger  was  sent 
to  Norris,  to  tempt  him  to  accuse  the  queen  by  a  promise  of 
life;  but  though  young,  and  about  to  leave  two  orphans,  he 
sent  back  word  that  "  the  queen  was  innocent,  and  he  was  ready 
to  die  for  what  he  said."  "  Ha,  ha!"  cried  Henry,  furious  at 
such  constancy,  "  hang  him  up,  then,  hang  him  up."  Young 
Weston  was  specially  admired  for  his  beauty  and  manly  accom- 
plishments, and  pitied  for  the  sake  of  his  family.  The  French 
ambassador  begged  mercy  for  him  in  his  master's  name.  The 
young  man's  wife  and  mother  flung  themselves  at  Henry's  feet, 


A.D.  t536.]  Queen  Anne  Boleyn.  273 

in  the  deepest  mourning,  praying  for  a  reprieve.  They  would 
give  up  everything  they  had  in  the  world  if  his  life  were  spared, 
but  he  would  not  confess  or  accuse  the  queen,  and  Henry  did 
not  want  money,  but  some  words  against  Anne.  So  he  drove 
off  the  broken-hearted  women  with  the  brutal  answer, "  Let  him 
hang,  let  him  hang !"  Next  day  Rochford  and  the  other  four 
were  hanged  on  Tower  Hill,  where  Anne  could  see  them  die, 
with  all  the  horrible  accompaniments  of  death  for  treason  in 
that  age — their  cutting  down  while  still  alive,  their  disembowel- 
ment,  and  finally  their  beheading  and  quartering,  the  heads  and 
limbs  being  stuck  up  on  the  city  gates. 

Cranmer  had  been  ordered  by  Henry  to  confess  the  queen, 
and  he  and  Latimer  had  gone  to  her  to  the  Tower,  and  were 
satisfied  of  her  innocence.  But  Henry  wished,  and  the  conspi- 
rators needed,  a  divorce,  as  well  as  condemnation,  and  Cranmer 
was  appointed  to  examine  the  case.  The  canon  law,  with  its 
infinite  casuistry,  was  still  in  force,  and  opened  a  thousand 
means  of  divorce  to  any  one.  Indeed  every  marriage  offered 
legal  grounds,  by  the  Romish  law,  for  dissolution,  so  skilfully 
had  confusion  been  created  by  an  endless  multiplication  of 
impediments.  The  primate  was  bent  on  saving  Anne's  life  if 
possible,  and  might  be  trusted  to  annul  the  marriage  on  some 
of  these  endless  canonical  subtleties,  if  a  chance  of  saving  her 
turned  on  his  doing  so.  Lord  Percy  had  denied  any  pre- 
contract, but  Anne  had,  doubtless,  in  her  youth,  exchanged 
some  loving  words  with  some  one,  and  if  she  had,  it  was 
enough.  Hastening  to  the  Tower,  and  seeing  her  in  private, 
his  hopes  rose.  Calling  his  court  at  Lambeth,  Anne  and  the 
king  were  both  summoned  by  their  attorneys ;  the  casuistical 
objection  was  brought  forward,  and  the  marriage  was  declared 
null  and  void. 

Would  this  save  her  ?  If  never  really  married,  the  charges 
against  her  fell  to  the  ground,  for,  not  having  been  Henry's  wife, 
she  could  not  have  committed  conjugal  offences  against  him. 
The  whole  proceedings  of  the  trial  were  evidently  illegal.    The 


2/4  ^/'^  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1536. 

sentence  was  void  in  law.  It  would  be  murder  to  execute  her 
for  charges  which  the  annulling  of  her  marriage  cancelled  as 
unfounded.  But  law,  or  justice,  or  honour,  were  nothing.  Any 
life  that  stood  between  Henry  and  the  caprice  of  the  moment 
had  come  to  be  as  little  to  him  as  to  a  Turkish  sultan.  Twelve 
hours  after  the  marriage  was  cancelled  he  sent  orders  to  put  the 
queen  to  death  at  noon  next  day. 

That  night  was  spent  by  Anne  in  prayer.  The  Constable  of 
the  Tower  next  morning  told  Norfolk  that  he  had  seen  her  take 
the  sacrament  and  was  sure  she  would  seal  her  innocence  with 
her  blood.  Alesse,  a  Scotch  religious  exile,  of  high  rank  as  a 
scholar  and  divine,  then  in  London,  was  with  Cranmer  in 
Lambeth  Gardens  as  the  night  wore  through.  "  Do  you  know 
what  is  to  happen  to-day  ?"  asked  the  primate.  "  No,"  said 
Alesse,  "  since  the  queen's  imprisonment  I  have  not  left  my 
room,  and  know  nothing  of  what  is  going  on."  "  She  who  has 
been  the  queen  of  England  on  earth,"  said  Cranmer,  his  eyes 
raised  to  heaven  and  his  face  wet  with  tears,  "  will  this  day  be  a 
queen  in  heaven." 

Next  day,  at  noon,  a  small  group  of  selected  officials  attended 
inside  the  Tower,  to  witness  the  last  scene  of  the  plot.  Instead 
of  the  axe,  Henry  had  ordered  that  an  experiment  in  beheading 
be  tried  on  Anne,  by  employing  the  Calais  executioner  to  use  a 
sword.  If  it  answered  well,  he  intended  to  introduce  the  plan 
into  England.  A  few  minutes  after  noon  all  was  over,  and  the 
Tower  guns  at  once  gave  Henry  the  signal  of  its  being  so.  He 
was  waiting  to  hear  them,  within  sound,  ready  with  dogs 
and  horses  for  a  holiday,  and  had  sent  for  Jane  Seymour,  for  he 
intended  to  marry  her  within  a  few  hours.  Among  the  gay 
party  he  was  the  merriest.  At  the  report  of  the  guns  he  sprang 
up  and  shouted  gaily,  "Ah,  the  business  is  done,  uncouple  the 
hounds,  let  us  follow  the  sport."  That  day  he  wore  white  as 
mourning,  and  the  next,  he  was  married  to  his  new  mistress. 
*'  I  have  no  doubt,"  said  Charles's  sister,  Maria,  Queen  of 
Hungary,  "  that  when  the  king  is  tired  of  his  new  wife,  he  will 


AD.  1536-1  Queen  Anne  Boleyn.  275 

find  the  means  of  getting  rid  of  her  as  easily."  "The  new 
queen,"  wrote  Charles's  envoy  to  his  master,  "  is  low  in  stature 
and  of  no  great  beauty.  If  they  want  a  divorce  from  her,  they 
will  find  plenty  of  witnesses  against  her."  Of  Anne,  even  Father 
Curies,  the  French  priest,  could  say,  "  it  seems  enough  for  her 
to  die,  a  sacrifice,  in  her  victorious  innocence."  The  true 
character  of  the  murdered  woman  is  best  read  in  her  life.  Her 
charity  was  unbounded.  The  wretched  never  appealed  to  her 
in  vain.  During  the  last  nine  months  of  her  life  she  distributed 
in  various  forms  of  charity  a  sum  equal  to  ;^  168,000  of  our 
money,  and  her  goodness  had  been  always  the  same.  Even 
Wolsey  had  written  to  the  Pope  of  her,  in  1528,  commending 
•'  her  approved  excellent  qualities  ;  the  purity  of  her  life ;  her 
maidenly  and  womanly  modesty  ;  her  soberness,  chasteness, 
meekness,  and  wisdom."  That  she  chose  Latimer,  the  fearless  out- 
spoken man,  for  her  chaplain,  was  an  invitation  to  scrutiny  of  her 
daily  life.     She  had  been  "  the  rainbow  o'er  the  awful  throne." 

"Henry  alone,  it  may  be  hoped,"  says  Sir  James  Mackintosh, 
"  was  capable  of  commanding  his  slaves  to  murder,  on  the  scaffold, 
her  whom  he  had  lately  cherished  and  adored.  In  the  executions 
of  More  and  Anne  he  proclaimed  that  he  henceforward  bade 
defiance  to  compassion,  affection,  and  veneration,  and  ap- 
proached perhaps  as  nearly  to  the  ideal  standard  of  perfect 
wickedness  as  the  infirmities  of  human  nature  will  allow."* 

Anne's  death  was  a  shrewd  blow  of  Gardiner  and  the  other 
Romish  conspirators  at  the  hated  Reformation.  Nothing  could 
have  been  more  calamitous  to  its  friends.  Dean  Milman  only 
expresses  their  overwhelming  regrets  when  he  makes  Cranmer 
say,  in  reference  to  it  : — 

"  Farewell,  now. 
Vain  hope,  that  the  whole  land  should  hear  the  Word 
Of  God  go  forth  on  all  the  winds  ;  no  more 
Fatigue  the  dead  cold  Saint  with  fruitless  prayer, 

'  History  of  England,  IL  205. 


276  The  English  Reformation.  Ia.d.  1536. 

Or  kiss  with  pilgrim  lip  the  unheeding  shrine: 

That  not  a  village,  nor  a  silent  hamlet 

In  mountain  solitude,  or  glen,  of  traveller 

Untrod,  should  want  its  Sabbath  bell  to  knoll 

To  purest  worship  :  that  a  holy  priesthood, 

Chaste,  simple,  to  themselves  alone  severe, 

Poor  below  luxury,  rich  beyond  contempt, 

Environed  wiih  their  heaven-led  families, 

Should  with  their  lives'  most  saintly  eloquence 

Preach  Christ — Christ  only ; — while  all  reverend  Learning 

In  arched  cathedral  cloister,  or  the  grove 

That  bosoms  deep  the  calm  and  thoughtful  college, 

Should  heavenward  meditate,  and  bring  to  earth 

The  knowledge  learned  amid  the  golden  stars. "1 

Rome  had  added  another  to  her  long  roll  of  portentous  crimes 
committed  in  the  outraged  name  of  religion. 

Parliament  and  Convocation  both  met  in  June,  and  both 
eagerly  carried  out  the  king's  wishes  respecting  the  dead  queen. 
The  succession  was  once  more  altered,  Mary  and  Elizabeth 
being  both  pronounced  illegitimate,  and  the  children  of  the  new 
marriage  or  a  future  one  were  named  the  heirs  to  the  throne.  A 
fresh  Act  was  also  passed  requiring  all  officers,  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical, to  renounce,  on  oath,  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and 
this,  with  the  Supremacy  Act,  finally  transferred  to  the  crown 
nearly  all  the  authority  formerly  held  by  Rome. 

Convocation  met  on  the  day  after  the  sitting  of  Pariiament, 
Cromwell  taking  his  seat,  as  the  representative  of  the  king, 
above  all  the  ecclesiastics,  and  thus  bringing  home  to  all  the 
completeness  of  the  humiliation  of  the  Church. 

The  opening  sermons  were  preached,  both  morning  and  after- 
noon, by  Latimer,  whom  Cranmer  had  wisely  chosen  for  a  duty 
for  which  his  fearless  nature  and  unrivalled  command  of  simple 
and  powerful  language  especially  fitted  him.  He  had  selected 
as  his  text  the  parable  of  the  unjust  steward,^  laying  special 
stress  on  the  declaration  of  the  greater  wisdom  in  their  genera- 

*  Milman's  Anne  Boleyn,  123.  2  Luke  xvL 


Aj).  1536.]  Queen  Anne  Boleyn.  277 

tion  of  the  children  of  this  world  than  "  the  children  of  light." 
Both  sermons  were  preached  in  Latin,  but  were  presently  trans- 
lated into  English,  evidently  by  himself,  and  throw  a  strong 
light  on  the  religious  condition  of  the  Church  and  people. 
Spoken  to  the  clergy  themselves,  any  charges  or  statements  must 
have  been  indisputable,  else  they  would  instantly  have  been 
confuted.  Mass  being  ended,  and  the  roll  of  the  organ  silent, 
Latimer  rose  to  address  the  bishops,  abbots,  and  dignified  clergy, 
sitting  robed  and  mitred  before  him,  most  of  them  wishing 
nothing  more  than  that  they  could  bum  him.  Had  they,  he 
asked,  been  faithful  stewards  hitherto  ?  Had  not  some  of  them 
adulterated  the  word  of  God,  and  preached  that  redemption  by 
Christ's  death  was  only  for  those  who  died  before  His  coming, 
but  that  now,  since  then,  redemption  and  forgiveness  of  sin 
purchased  by  money  and  devised  by  men,  is  of  efficacy,  and  not 
that  purchased  by  Christ.  This  was  a  thrust  at  purgatory — 
"that  fiery  furnace  that  has  burned  away  so  many  of  our 
pence  " — or  "  purgatory  pick-purse,"  as  he  presently  calls  it. 
They  had  preached,  he  says,  that  dead  images  ought  not  only  to 
be  covered  with  gold,  but  to  be  clad  in  silk  and  laden  with 
precious  gems  and  jewels,  and  lighted  with  wax  candles  both 
within  the  church  and  without,  even  at  noon-day,  while  Christ's 
faithful  and  lively  images,  bought  with  His  precious  blood,  were 
seen  a-hungered,  a-thirst,  a-cold,  lying  in  darkness  and  wretched- 
ness till  death  relieved  them."  They  had  preached  that  "  will- 
works  were  more  acceptable  to  God  than  works  of  mercy,  and 
that  more  fruit  and  devotion  came  of  looking  at  an  image, 
though  only  as  long  as  it  took  to  repeat  a  Paternoster,  than 
from  reading  and  contemplation  in  Scripture  for  seven  years 
together.  That  souls  in  purgatory  needed  our  help  most,  and 
could  have  no  aid  but  by  our  prayers,  not  to  speak  of  "much 
other  such  like  counterfeit  doctrine,  that  had  been  blasted  and 
blown  out  by  some  for  the  space  of  three  hours  together."  He 
fancies  he  hears  "  God  say  to  us,  '  All  good  men,  in  all  places, 
complain  of  you,  accuse  your  avarice,  your  exactions,  your 


2^8  The  English  Reformation.  -    [ad  1536. 

tyranny.  You  preach  very  seldom.  You,  that  ought  to  be  My 
preachers,  what  other  thing  do  you,  than  apply  all  your  study  to 
the  bringing  all  My  preachers  to  envy,  shame,  contempt  ?  More 
than  this,  ye  pull  them  into  perils,  into  prisons,  and  as  much  as 
in  you  lieth,  to  cruel  deaths.  I  would  that  Christian  people 
should  hear  My  doctrine,  and  at  their  convenient  leisure  read  it 
also,  but  your  care  is  not  that  all  men  may  hear  it,  but  that  no 
layman  may  read  it.'"  The  morning  sermon  ends  by  commend- 
ing to  their  prayers  the  king,  "  chief  and  supreme  head  of  the 
Church  of  England,  under  Christ,"  the  new  queen,  Jane  Seymour, 
and  all  subjects,  clerical  and  lay,  "  not  forgetting  those  that  have 
departed  out  of  this  transitory  life."  So  that  Latimer  still 
believed,  at  this  date,  in  prayers  for  the  dead. 

The  afternoon  sermon  is  longer  and  even  more  severe.  The 
world,  he  said,  was  full  of  the  children  of  the  devil.  "  You 
would  find  them  in  court,  in  cowls,  in  cloisters,  in  rochets,^  be 
they  never  so  white."  As  among  the  laity  are  many  children  of 
light,  so  among  the  clergy,  though  they  think  such  holy  titles  as 
"  the  light  of  the  world,"  "  the  chosen  people  of  Christ,"  "  a 
kingly  priesthood,"  "  a  holy  nation,"  and  so  on,  apply  only  to 
them — there  are  many  children  of  the  world.  That  the  people 
are  better  learned  and  taught  now  than  in  time  past  was  to  be 
attributed  not  to  them  but  to  God's  providence  and  the  king. 
"  WTiich  stirred  the  other  first,  you  the  king  or  he  you  by  his 
letters,  that  you  should  preach  oftener  ?  Is  it  unknown,  think 
you,  how  both  you  and  your  curates  were  in  a  manner  forced  to 
let  books  be  made,  not  by  you,  but  by  profane  and  lay  persons ; 
to  let  them,  I  say,  be  sold  abroad,  and  read  for  the  instruction  of 
the  people  ? " 

He  then  asks  them  what  they  had  done — you,  "so  many  great 
fathers,"  up  to  this  time?  They  had  burned  a  dead  man* 
because  his  will  did  not  leave  them  money,  though  in  other 


1  The  rochet  was  like  a  surplice,  but  shorter,  and  open  at  the  sides. 

2  The  body  of  William  Tracy,  in  1532. 


A.D.  1536.J  Queen  Anne  Boleyn.  279 

points  he  was  "  a  very  good  man."  They  had  also  tried  to  burn 
him,  Latimer,  himself,  because  he  would  not  subscribe  certain 
articles  that  took  away  the  supremacy  of  the  king,  and  they  had 
tried  to  fasten  a  charge  of  heresy  against  Erasmus.*  "  Take 
away  these,  and  there  is  nothing  else,  so  far  as  I  know,  that  ye 
went  about." 

He  then  launches  into  a  terrible  denunciation  of  the  practices 
by  which  Rome  had  shown  itself  wiser  than  the  children  of  light 
— the  hundred  ways  it  had  invented  for  draining  England  of  its 
money.  But  the  wisest  of  all  were  those  "who  brought  forth  our 
old  ancient  purgatory  pick-purse,  which  was  assuaged  and  cooled 
with  a  Franciscan's  cowl,  to  put  on  a  dead  man's  back,  to  the 
fourth  part  of  his  sins."^ 

Passing  on,  he  tells  his  hearers  that  all  men  are  breathlessly 
anxious  to  know  what  they  will  do  now  they  are  met,  and  will 
name  them  according  to  their  acts.  "  Wherefore  lift  up  your 
heads,  brethren,  and  look  about  with  your  eyes,  and  spy  what 
things  are  to  be  reformed  in  the  Church  of  England."  The 
Court  of  Arches,'  the  chief  Consistory  Court  of  the  Province  of 
Canterbury,  is  then  charged  with  "cumbering  and  ruffling  the 
people's  business  and  matters,"  with  defending  vice,  and  with 
giving  sentences  by  bribery.  The  Consistory  Courts  of  each 
diocese,  that  is,  the  bishops'  courts,  are  then  assailed  for  taking 
money  to  let  offenders  off.  The  ceremonies  in  vogue  are  keenly 
censured ;  the  old  and  new  holy  days  that  are  so  numerous 
that  it  seems  as  if  it  were  thought  that  not  to  work  was  the  one 
way  to  serve  God — the  images  in  special  favour,  and  the  reputed 
relics  of  saints.  "  Do  you  think  that  preferring  picture  to  picture, 
image  to  image,  is  the  right  use,  and  not  rather  the  abuse  of 
images  ?    Would  it  not  be  better  for  us  to  cut  away  a  piece  of 

'  In  1520. 

'  Pope  Clement  IV.  remitted  the  fourth  part  of  all  their  sins  to  those 
who  were  buried  in  a  friar's  cloak.    Latimer's  Sermons,  note  p.  50. 

*  Called  so  from  being  at  one  time  held  in  the  arches  (arcubus)  or 
bowt  of  the  Church  S.  Marise  de  Arcubus — Bow  Church,  Cheapside. 


28o  The  English  Reformation.  [a-d.  1536. 

our  profit  than  to  work  at  such  ungodliness  for  a  little  gain  ?  As 
to  the  relics,  they  are  sometimes  pigs'  bones,  and  not  those  of 
saints."  The  abuses  of  pilgrimages  had  been  condemned  of  old 
by  the  Church  of  England,  and  should  be  condemned  again.  "I 
think  ye  have  heard  of  St.  Blesis'  heart  at  Malvern,^  and  of  St. 
Algar's  bones,  how  long  they  deluded  the  people,  I  am  afraid  to 
the  loss  of  many  souls.  From  these  men  may  well  conjecture 
that  ail  about  in  this  realm  there  are  plenty  of  such  jugghng 
deceits.  And  yet  you  have  hitherto  sought  no  remedy,  but  even 
still  the  miserable  people  are  suffered  to  take  false  miracles  for 
true,  and  to  lie  asleep  in  all  kind  of  superstition.  God  have 
mercy  on  us  1 " 

"  Last  of  all,  how  think  you  of  matrimony  ?  Is  it  well  here  ? 
What  of  baptism  ?  Shall  we  ever  more  in  ministering  it  speak 
in  Latin  and  not  rather  in  English,  that  the  people  may  know 
what  is  said  and  done  ?  What  do  you  think  of  the  mass-priests 
and  of  the  masses  themselves  ?  Your  forefathers  saw  somewhat, 
who  made  the  constitution  against  the  venality  and  sale  of 
masses,  that  under  pain  of  suspension  no  priest  should  sell  his 
saying  trentals'^  or  annuals."^ . 

The  close  is  grand  in  its  earnestness.  If  they  think  there  is 
nothing  to  reform,  let  them  make  merry  while  they  live,  for 
"  God  will  come,  God  will  come.  He  will  not  tarry  long  away. 
He  will  come  and  reward  us  as  He  doth  the  hypocrites.  He 
will  set  us  where  wailing  shall  be,  my  brethren ;  where  gnashing 
of  teeth  shall  be,  my  brethren.  If  ye  will  not  die  eternally,  live 
not  worldly.  Come,  go  to ;  leave  the  love  of  your  profit,  study 
for  the  glory  and  profit  of  Christ.  Feed  ye  tenderly,  with  all 
diligence,  the  flock  of  Christ.  Preach  truly  the  word  of  God. 
Love  the  light,  walk  in  the  light,  and  so  be  the  children  of  light 
while  ye  are  in  this  world,  that  ye  may  shine  in  the  world  to 

•  St.  Blaise. 

Three  repetitions  of  ten  different  masses,  said  at  ten  different  feasts. 

*  Yearly  masses  said  for  the  dead  on  the  anniversary  of  his  death. 
Also,  a  mass  said  every  day  for  a  year,  for  the  soul  of  a  dead  person. 


A.D.  isjfi].  Queen  Anne  Bolcyn.  281 

come  as  bright  as  the  sun,  with  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  to  whom  be  all  honour,  praise,  and  glory. 
Amen ! " 

To  us  these  discourses  show  rather  the  timid  conservatism  of 
the  early  Reformers  than  any  revolutionary  boldness.  Latimer 
denounces  purgatory,  and  the  abuse  of  images,  relics,  cere- 
monies, and  masses,  and  urges  practical  godliness,  based  on  the 
study  of  Scripture,  instead  of  a  religion  offering  forgiveness  of 
sins  for  money ;  but  he  leaves  the  whole  fabric  of  Romish 
doctrine,  in  its  essentials,  untouched.  The  Real  Presence  was 
as  yet  part  of  his  creed,  and,  as  the  keystone  of  the  Romish 
theory,  involved  much  more.  Men  outgrow  the  influences  of 
education  but  slowly,  and  the  Reformers,  like  true  Englishmen, 
did  so  only  by  almost  imperceptible  degrees.  Yet,  even  already, 
their  revolt  from  Rome  inevitably  embodied  the  whole  principle 
of  Protestantism,  for,  in  repudiating  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope, 
they  had  rejected  Church  authority  in  its  highest  expression, 
and  had  acted  on  the  freedom  of  private  judgment,  which 
carries  all  Protestantism  in  its  bosom. 

But  however  conservative  to  us,  such  words  were  revolutionary 
enough  to  the  Convocation  of  1536,  and  portended  an  ominous 
storm.  The  first  business  done  was  the  production  by  Cromwell 
of  the  record  of  Queen  Anne's  divorce,  which  all  signed,  with- 
out opposition — "  the  Romanists," as  Fuller  says,  "willingly;  the 
Protestants  faintly ;  but  all  publicly.  Indeed,  in  this  Convoca- 
tion, nothing  was  proposed  in  the  king's  name  but  it  passed 
immediately.  Oh,  the  operation  of  the  purge  of  a  premunire,  so 
lately  taken  by  the  clergy,  and  ;^i 00,000  paid  upon  it!"* 

From  politics  they  turned  to  ecclesiastical  matters,  but  these 
were  as  stormy  as  what  had  preceded  was  peaceful.  Gwent,  the 
Romish  prolocutor,  or  chairman,  of  the  Lower  House,  presented 
an  address  to  the  Upper  House,  complaining  of  sixty-seven 
erroneous  doctrines  advanced  among  the  people,  which  craved 

1  Fuller,  ii.  79. 


282  The  English  Reformation.  \^.^.  1536. 

rigorous  measures.  Its  introduction  roused  a  fierce  conflict,  for 
many  of  the  opinions  condemned  were  favoured  by  Reformers 
present.  The  list  included  matters  of  widely  various  weight — 
the  sober  Protestantism  of  Evangelical  Christians,  the  vagaries 
of  obscure  fanatics,  and  even  the  irreverent  humour  of  indi- 
viduals in  the  mob.  It  complained  of  the  repudiation  of  extreme 
unction,  the  demand  for  communion  in  both  kinds,  the  assertion 
that  the  young  ought  not  to  be  confirmed  till  they  have  reached 
years  of  discretion ;  that  the  Church  is  the  congregation  of  good 
men,  that  images  are  not  to  be  superstitiously  reverenced. 
Some,  it  was  said,  did  not  respect  holy  water,  or  anointing  oil, 
or  ridiculed  the  shaven  crowns  of  priests,  rejected  auricular 
confession,  absolution,  and  penance,  the  invocation  of  saints, 
the  worship  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  purgatory,  the  ceremonies  in 
vogue,  and  pilgrimages  to  shrines.  Other  items  represented, 
at  most,  the  extreme  opinions  which  always  develop  themselves 
in  the  few  in  a  time  of  great  religious  excitement,  and  found 
no  sympathy  with  the  Evangelical  Reformers.  The  singing  or 
saying  of  mass,  it  was  alleged,  was  denounced  as  but  a  "roaring, 
howling,  whistling,  mumming,  and  juggling;"  the  "priests' 
shaven  crowns  were  spoken  of  as  the  mark  of  Babylon ; "  the 
hallowed  oil  as  the  Pope's  butter.^  Some  even  dared  to  say  that 
priests  had  no  divine  authority,  or  that  the  Bible  was  the  only 
standard  of  doctrine.  But  men  representing  so  corrupt  a 
Church — men  who  had  burned  their  fellow-citizens  alive  in 
the  name  of  religion — need  not  have  been  so  sensitive  to  the 
ridicule  and  hatred  they  had  so  bitterly  provoked. 

The  three  last  articles  complained  of  "  slanderous  books  and 
erroneous  doctrines,"  which  some  bishops,  it  was  said,  did  not 
sufiiciently  labour  to  suppress.  This  was  specially  levelled  at 
Cranmer  and  the  reforming  bishops — Goodrich,  of  Ely ;  Shax- 
ton,  of  Salisbury;  Latimer,  of  Worcester;  Fox,  of  Hereford; 
Hilsey,  of  Rochester ;  and  Barlow,  of  St.  David's.    It  was  hoped 

Fuller,  iL  85. 


AD.  1536J  Queen  Anne  Boleyn.  283 

that  Cranmer  was  now  declining  in  influence  since  Anne 
Boleyn's  death,  and  that  Latimer  and  Shaxton,  who  owed  their 
sees  to  her,  would  soon  fall  with  him.  But  they  veiled  their 
plots  behind  a  protestation  of  frank  submission  to  the  king  as 
their  supreme  head,  and  renounced  the  Pope's  authority  once 
more. 

To  the  dismay  of  both  Houses,  however,  Cranmer  was  found 
to  be  firmly  established  in  the  king's  favour,  and  Henry  proved 
to  be  so  far  of  his  way  of  thinking,  that  Cromwell  was  sent  to 
them  with  a  royal  message,  requiring  them  to  reform  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  according  to  Scripture,  "  to  the 
rejection  alike  of  the  glosses  of  the  Schoolmen,  the  decrees  of 
Popes,  or  any  traditional  and  unwritten  verities."^  This  message 
was,  moreover,  accompanied  by  a  document  drawn  up  by  Henry 
himself,  which  showed  him  to  be  as  learned  a  theologian  as  any 
of  their  own  number.  It  prescribed  to  them  a  series  of  articles 
which  he  required  them,  without  choice  on  their  part,  at  once 
to  accept  and  adopt,  as  those  which  he,  in  his  capacity  of  Head 
of  the  Church,  ordered  them  and  England  henceforth  to  believe. 

Against  the  seven  reforming  bishops  in  the  Upper  House 
there  were  present  ten  bishops  and  forty  abbots  and  priors, 
nearly  all  Romanists,  as  far  as  their  terror  of  Henry  permitted. 
The  debate  turned  mainly  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Seven  Sacra- 
ments— Baptism,  Confirmation,  the  Eucharist,  Penance,  Extreme 
Unction,  Holy  Orders,  and  Matrimony — in  support  of  which 
the  Old  Party  urged  all  the  traditional  arguments  from  every 
source,  while  the  Reformers  took  their  stand  solely  on  the 
authority  of  Scripture.  Cranmer  argued  with  splendid  earnest- 
ness and  force,  and  was  zealously  supported  by  Cromwell,  but  it 
was  vain  to  attempt  to  convince  men  against  their  will. 

Cranmer's  friend  Alesse  or  Alesius,  to  whom  I  have  already 
alluded,  was  still  in  London.  Though  only  thirty-six,  he  was 
already  famous.     Bom  in  1500,  he  had  been  a  Canon  of  St. 

'  It  fills  thirteen  pages  in  Fuller,  and,  like  all  Henry's  writings,  is 
wonderfully  able. 


284  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1536. 

Andrews,  in  1528,  when  the  martyr  death  of  Patrick  Hamilton 
won  him  to  the  Reformation.  A  year's  imprisonment,  on  sus- 
picion of  heresy,  erelong  followed,  but  in  1531  he  had  escaped 
to  Germany,  where  he  had  sought  the  society  of  Luther  and 
Melancthon,  and  had  accepted  the  Augsburg  Confession — the 
Lutheran  standard.  An  admirable  defence  of  the  right  of  the 
laity  to  the  free  use  of  the  Bible  in  English  had  led  to  his  being 
invited  to  England  by  Cranmer  and  Cromwell  to  help  them  in 
their  struggles  against  the  Old  Party.  Hoping  through  this  to 
be  of  use  in  his  own  country,  he  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
was  in  1535  appointed  Professor  of  Theology  in  Cambridge. 
But  the  Romanists  were  still  too  strong  there,  and  having  to 
leave,  he  came  to  London,  and  supported  himself  as  a  physician. 
He  was  a  man  of  high  theological  attainments,^  and  honoured 
alike  for  his  moderation  and  intelligence,  and  dignified  worth. 
Cromwell,  with  his  masculine  breadth  of  sympathy,  worthy  of 
one  who  "  knew  the  New  Testament  by  heart,"  had  Httle  patience 
with  the  wrangling  of  the  Judaizers  who  strove  to  stamp  on 
the  Church  of  the  New  Era  the  principles  of  the  synagogue, 
— its  narrow  exclusiveness,  its  castes,  its  ritualism,  and  its 
claims  to  divine  authority.  Having,  therefore,  met  him  during 
the  debate  in  Convocation,  he  took  him  to  it,  that  he  might 
answer  Bishop  Stokesley,  though  without  preparation.^ 

In  any  assembly  of  Christian  ministers,  where  priestly  claims 
had  not  swollen  sectarian  pride,  such  a  man  would  have  been 
alike  welcomed  and  honoured.  But  the  successors  of  the  apostles 
in  Convocation  could  not  tolerate  a  man  who,  though  episcopally 
ordained,  had  accepted  non-episcopal  Lutheran  notions ;  and  his 
presence,  no  less  than  his  ability  in  discussion,  raised  such  a 
tumult  that  Cromwell  had  to  ask  him,  after  the  first  meeting,  to 
write  out  his  views,  and  let  them  be  read  henceforth  by  some 
one  else. 


^  Archbisliop  Parker  (1504 — 1575),  calls  him  •'vir  in  theologia  per- 
doctus  " — "a  most  learned  theologian." 
'•'  Herzog's  Real  Ency.  i.  249,  & 


AD.  1536.1  Queen  Anne  BolepL  285 

Convocation  would  fain  have  let  the  discussion  of  Henry's 
overture  die  out  in  words.  But  he  would  not  accept  this  barren 
result,  and  sent  some  articles  to  be  considered  by  them ;  a  hint, 
which,  with  the  hopes  of  preferment  before  them,  and  the 
remembrance  of  the  premunire,  finally  led  to  a  compromise 
which  marks  the  highest  point  reached  by  the  Reformation  dur- 
ing Henry's  lifetime.     By  this — 

1.  The  Scriptures,  the  three  Creeds,  and  the  first  four  General 

Councils,  were  henceforth  to  be  the  only  standards  of  faith. 

2.  Baptism  was  declared  necessary  to  salvation,  children  were 

required  to  be  baptized  for  the  pardon  of  original  sin, 
and  for  the  obtaining  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

3.  Penance  was  declared  necessary  to  salvation,  including 

private  confession. 

4.  The  very  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were  said  to  be  received 

in  the  Eucharist,  under  the  forms  of  bread  and  wine. 

5.  Justification  was  declared  to  be  the  remission  of  sins,  and 

a  perfect  renovation  in  Christ,  not  only  in  outward  good 
works,  but  in  inward  holiness. 

6.  Images  in  churches  were  allowed,  but  the  peoplewere  to  be 

taught  to  avoid  the  superstition  of  the  past,  and  not  to 
worship  the  image,  but  only  God. 

7.  The   Saints    were    to   be   honoured,    but    those   things 

which  God  only  can  give  were  not  to  be  expected  from 
them. 

8.  Their  intercessions  might  be  asked,  but  all  superstitious 

abuses  were  to  cease,  and  the  clergy  were  to  obey  the  king, 
if  he  lessened  the  number  of  saints'  days. 

9.  The  use  of  vestments  in  Divine  worship,  holy  water,  holy 

bread,  the  carrying  candles,  palms,  and  ashes,  the 
creeping  to  the  cross,  hallowing  the  font,  and  other 
ceremonies  were  to  be  retained. 

10.  Prayer  for    departed    souls,   and    masses,    and    funeral 
rites  were  retained,  but  it  was  added  that  as  Scripture 


286  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1536. 

had  neither  declared  in  what  place  departed  souls  were,  nor 
what  torments  they  suffered,  all  the  abuses  of  the  Pope's 
pardons,  or  saying  masses  in  special  places,  or  before 
prescribed  images,  were  to  be  put  away. 

These  famous  Ten  Articles  were  signed  first  by  Cromwell,  as 
representing  the  king,  and  next,  by  the  two  archbishops,  sixteen 
bishops,  forty  abbots  and  priors,  and  by  fifty  members  of  the 
Lower  House.  A  preface  having  been  afterwards  added  to  them 
by  the  king,  stating  them  to  have  been  prepared  by  himself, 
and  requiring  their  acceptance  by  all  his  subjects,  they  were 
published  and  circulated.  If  they  proved  successful  in  bringing 
about  uniformity  in  religion,  Henry  would  "  be  encouraged  to 
take  more  pains  in  like  matters"  for  the  future. 

But  like  all  compromises,  the  Ten  Articles  pleased  neither 
side.  Yet  the  Reformers  were  thankful  that  the  Scriptures  and 
the  ancient  Creeds  were  made  the  standard  of  faith,  to  the 
exclusion  of  tradition,  and  that  peace  with  God  was  no  longer 
taught  to  be  a  matter  of  payment,  but  of  living  and  active 
faith  and  love.  They  rejoiced  that  the  direct  worship  of  images 
and  saints  was  condemned,  and  that  purgatory  was  at  least  left 
uncertain,  but  the  retention  of  confession  and  the  real  presence, 
the  doing  homage  to  images,  and  the  praying  to  saints,  if,  in 
part,  they  show  how  imperfect  the  ideas  of  even  the  leading 
Reformers  still  were,  show  also  how  much  had,  as  yet,  to  be 
yielded  to  their  opponents. 

The  old  party,  on  the  other  hand,  saw  four  of  the  seven 
sacraments  passed  over  in  silence  and  the  trade  in  purgatory 
put  down,  while  the  very  fact  that  Church  doctrines  had  been 
brought  under  debate  was  ominous  for  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  BIBLE  IN  ENGLISH. 

BOTH  sides  in  the  great  struggle  were  now  equally  in 
earnest.  Abroad,  the  Pope  summoned  Henry  to  a 
General  Council  to  be  held  at  Mantua,  but  his  right  to  do  so  was 
challenged,  and  a  reply  sent,  quoting  Gregory  Nazianzen,  that 
"he  thought  all  assemblies  of  bishops  were  to  be  eschewed,  for  he 
never  saw  good  come  of  any  of  them,  and  they  had  increased 
rather  than  healed  the  distempers  of  the  Church  ;  the  thirst  for 
vainglory,  and  a  contentious  humour,  bearing  down  reason."* 

But  had  Henry  been  disposed  to  listen  to  anything  from 
Rome  an  incident  now  happened  which  finally  made  the  rupture 
complete.  It  had  been  hoped  that  the  death  of  Anne  Boleyn 
\Mtuld  open  a  way  to  reconciliation,  but  at  this  time  a  book  by 
Cardinal  Pole  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church  reached  England. 
It  had  been  written  long  before,  and  had  reached  Henry  in 
1530  privately,  but  it  had  not  hitherto  been  published.  Pole 
was  grandson,  by  his  mother,  of  a  brother  of  Edward  IV.,  and 
was  a  near  kinsman  of  the  king  on  his  father's  side  as  well. 
Henry  had  liked  him  in  his  youth  and  had  helped  his  views  of 
rising  in  the  Church.  But  in  this  book  the  people  were  urged 
to  rebel  against  a  tyrant  more  wicked  than  Saul,  who  killed  the 
priests ;    more  sacrilegious  than   Dathan,  who  withstood  the 

^  Burnet,  ReC  L  440. 


288  TJie  English  Reformatioji.  ia.d.  1336. 

ordinance  of  God.  It  branded  the  king  as  "  the  vilest  of 
plunderers,  a  thief  and  a  robber,"  surrounded  by  bishops  who 
were  as  bad,  and  declared  that  no  punishments  would  suffice  for 
his  crimes.  To  make  matters  worse,  it  was  written,  to  use 
Cranmer's  words,  "  with  that  eloquence,  that  if  it  were  set  forth 
and  known  to  the  common  people,  it  were  not  possible  to  con- 
vince them  to  the  contrary."  The  effect  on  the  Romish  party, 
of  such  a  book,  now  that  it  was  published,  was,  for  the  time, 
disastrous,  but,  in  the  end,  proved  most  fatal  to  Pole's  family. 
Gardiner  was  set  to  write  an  answer,  which  appeared  as  an 
essay  "  On  True  Obedience,"  Bonner  writing  a  fierce  preface 
to  it  against  the  Pope.  Stokesley  and  Tunstal  also  published  a 
long  letter  in  the  king's  defence. 

The  whole  country  was  in  a  ferment.  The  "  Confession  of 
Faith  "  just  adopted  by  Convocation,  had  been  drawn  up  by  the 
king  himself,  and  was  now  distributed  everywhere  among  the 
clergy.  Cromwell  was  in  high  favour  and  had  been  made  suc- 
cessively, this  year.  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal,  Baron  Cromwell, 
and  the  Vice-gerent  and  Vicar-General  of  the  king.  The 
bishops  and  Church  dignitaries  had  had  to  rise  on  his  entrance 
to  Convocation  and  do  obeisance  to  him  as  the  king's  represen- 
tative, and  he  had  sat  in  the  highest  place.  Indeed,  he  had  not 
himself  been  always  present,  and  in  his  absence  the  humiliated 
prelates  and  clergy  had  had  to  honour  even  his  deputy  in  tl»e 
same  way.  Nor  was  he  disposed  to  let  his  office  be  formal. 
Injunctions  were  now  issued  by  him,  to  be  read  from  every 
pulpit,  directing  the  clergy  how  to  act.  They  were  to  do  their 
utmost  to  extirpate  the  Pope's  authority  and  establish  that  of  the 
king  :  to  make  known  the  Ten  Articles  lately  issued  by  Convo- 
cation :  to  announce  the  suppression  of  superfluous  holidays  :  to 
cease  extolling  images,  relics,  or  pilgrimages,  and  to  urge, 
instead,  the  keeping  God's  commandments,  and  doing  works  of 
charity.  Children  were  to  be  taught  the  Ten  Commandments 
and  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  Creed,  in  English,  and  the  clergy 
were  to  see  that  they  were  brought  up  to  a  trade  or  living.    The 


A.D.  i5:?d]  Tlie  Bible  in  English.  289 

sacraments  were  to  be  reverently  observed,  and  curates  to  be 
provided  in  the  absence  of  the  parish  priest.  They  were  to 
keep  away  from  ale-houses  or  taverns,  and  not  to  sit  too  long 
at  games  after  meals,  to  be  of  pure  life,  to  study  the  Scriptures, 
and  be  examples  to  their  flocks.  Every  non-resident  with  an 
income  of  ^"20,  or  above  it,  was  to  give  a  fortieth,  yearly,  to  the 
poor,  and  every  one  with  an  income  of  ;^ioo  a  year,  or  more, 
was  to  give  an  exhibition  for  each  £\QO  at  some  grammar 
school,  or  at  the  universities,  in  aid  of  some  student  who  should 
afterwards  be  his  assistant.  Where  parsonage  houses  were 
decayed,  twenty  per  cent,  was  to  be  given  yearly  to  repair  them, 
till  put  right. 

Such  directions  from  a  lay  officer  were  intensely  distasteful  to 
the  clergy.  They  were  Lollardism  made  into  law.  They  cut 
up  their  gains  by  the  roots,  and  forced  them  to  do  their  duty. 
Cranmer  had  written  them  with  Cromwell's  approval.  Carried 
out  honestly,  they  would  have  changed  the  face  of  England  for 
the  better  in  a  generation ;  but  from  many  pulpits  they  were 
purposely  read  so  that  no  one  could  understand  them,  and  they 
were  deUberately  ignored  as  far  as  possible. 

Nor  were  the  monks  left  more  at  rest.  Parliament  had  in 
spring  made  over  all  the  monasteries  with  incomes  below  £200 
to  the  king,  and  visitors  were  at  once  sent  out  to  dissolve  them. 
Inventories  had  been  taken  of  their  revenues  and  properly  at 
the  first  visitation.  All  the  monks  and  nuns  willing  to  return 
to  a  secular  life,  and  all  under  twenty-four,  had  their  expenses 
paid  to  London,  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  or  Chancellor 
Audley,  to  be  set  free  from  their  vows  ;  those  who  preferred  to 
remain  being  sent  to  some  great  monastery  or  nunnery  near 
them.  Pensions,  moreover,  were  assigned  to  the  abbots  and 
abbesses  during  life.  But  the  whole  proceedings  had  from  the 
first  raised  the  bitterest  feelings  in  the  clergy,  the  monks,  and 
the  peasantry,  and  these  were  now  intensified  by  the  roughness 


^  Equal  to  £,2^0  now. 


290  Tlie  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1536. 

of  the  visitors.  Great  complaints  were  made  of  their  violence 
and  briberies,  perhaps  not  without  reason.  The  abbots  had, 
indeed,  laid  themselves  open  to  harsh  treatment,  for  in  many 
cases  they  had  been  raising  all  the  money  they  could  on  their 
lands,  to  have  their  hands  full  when  the  crash  came,  and  in 
many  instances  they  had  made  away  with  the  jewels  and  valu- 
ables of  their  establishments.  But  their  sins  and  shortcomings 
were  now  forgotten  by  the  countrypeople,  in  their  misfortunes. 
Ten  thousand  monks  and  nuns  were  seen  turned  on  the  world 
to  earn  their  living,  with  forty  shillings^  and  a  gown  for  each 
man,  and  secular  clothing  for  each  nun.  Their  goods  and  plate, 
cattle,  &c.,  estimated  at  ^^i, 200,000  of  our  money,  were  seized 
for  the  king  ;  and  so  were  their  lands,  the  rents  of  which  had 
been  valued  at  ^384,000  of  our  money,  but  were  really  worth 
ten  times  as  much.^  Parliament,  the  abject  slave  of  the  king, 
had  voted  the  whole  absolutely  to  its  master,  and  England  now 
looked  on  with  horror  at  this  monstrous  and  gigantic  robbery  in 
the  name  of  law.  Had  the  monasteries  been  sequestrated  to 
national  uses,  it  would  have  been  a  public  service,  provided 
enough  had  been  appropriated  to  religious  and  educational 
objects,*  and  kindness  shown  the  monks  and  nuns  themselves. 
But  that  all  should  be  devoured  by  the  king  was  an  outrage  that 
moved  the  depths  of  popular  feeling.  The  very  completeness  of 
the  confiscation  made  it  more  shocking,  for  even  the  churches 
and  cloisters  were  in  most  places  pulled  down,  and  the  materials 
sold  for  what  they  would  fetch.  None  felt  more  indignant  at 
the  immorality  than  the  Reformers. 

From  one  cause  or  other  most  of  the  religious  houses  had  been 
surrendered  to  Henry  before  the  Act  was  passed  for  their  sup- 
pression, only  123,  apparently,  being  able  to  hold  out  till  it 
finally  became  law.  Oxford  had  been  revolutionized  in  1535, 
but  in  its  case  the  change  was  clearly  for  the  better.  The  Old 
Party  had  had  all  their  own  way  since  the  Christian  Brethren 

'  Equal  to  £,2^.        Burnet,  Abridgement,  I02.        *  As  in  Germany. 


A.D.  1536.]  The  Bible  in  English,  29 1 

had  been  driven  out,  in  1526.  The  New  Learning  had  since  then 
been  tabooed,  and  mediaevalism  had  had  a  spasmodic  revival. 
The  university  had  sunk  very  low.  Multitudes  of  idle  clergy 
lived  in  it  as  a  pleasant  club,  which  cost  them  nothing.  Study 
was  a  thing  of  the  past. 

On  this  sleepy  paradise  the  visitors  descended  without  warn- 
ing, and  in  the  few  days  of  their  stay  changed  everything.  They 
founded  new  professorships,  of  polite  Latin,  philosophy,  divinity, 
canon  law,  natural  sciences,  and,  worst  of  all,  of  Greek,  endow- 
ing them  from  the  university  funds.  The  dull,  worthless  text- 
books hitherto  in  use  were  put  aside,  and  others  substituted  for 
them.  The  reign  of  the  Schoolmen,  which  Erasmus  had  so 
bitterly  ridiculed,  was  finally  over.  Idle  residents  were  required 
to  return  to  their  benefices  on  pain  of  being  forced  to  attend 
lectures  and  do  college  exercises  like  other  students,  and  strict 
discipline  was  established.  From  Oxford  the  visitors  passed 
through  the  whole  country,  everywhere  leaving  behind  them 
bitter  feeUngs  in  those  whom  the  changes  they  introduced 
affected.  Though  only  as  yet  empowered  to  visit,  they  every- 
where seized  whatever  was  worth  taking,  on  the  sole  authority 
of  the  king,  and  stripped  the  churches  and  houses  of  the 
monks  and  nuns  of  all  their  jewels,  their  silver  and  gold  orna- 
ments, vessels,  &c.,  taking  a  note  of  anything  left  behind,  and 
imposing  such  injunctions  on  the  unhappy  victims  as  account 
for  the  surrender  of  their  houses,  without  waiting  for  an  Act  to 
compel  them  to  do  so. 

The  Act  itself,  to  legalize  this  royal  plunder,  had  been  passed 
under  circumstances  which  must  have  sunk  deep  into  men's 
minds.  Henrj'  had  come  down  to  the  House  of  Commons  and 
delivered  the  Bill  to  the  Speaker,  bidding  the  Members  "  look 
upon  it,  and  weigh  it  in  conscience,"  and  informing  them  that 
"  he  would  be  there  again  on  the  following  Wednesday  to  hear 
their  minds."  They  could  not  forget  what  this  meant,  for  the 
old  threat  to  have  their  heads  if  he  had  not  his  will  from  them, 
was,  doubtless,  still  fresh  in  their  memories.     The  nobility  and 


292  The  English  Reformation.  [a-d.  1536. 

gentry  missed  the  provision  for  their  younger  sons  and  daughters, 
which  the  monasteries  and  nunneries  afforded  :  the  people  and 
the  poor  remembered  the  abbot's  table  and  his  doles  :  and  the 
superstitious  shrank  from  the  thought  of  their  departed  friends 
being  now  left  hopelessly  in  purgatory.  The  reports  of  the 
visitors  did  little  to  quiet  these  complaints,  for  the  confiscation 
of  everything  by  the  king  had,  at  best,  only  substituted  one 
great  abuse  for  another,  Cromwell,  therefore,  induced  Henry 
to  sell  some  lands  at  easy  rates,  or  even  to  grant  them,  to  the 
nobility  and  gentry,  with  a  condition  that  they  should  maintain 
the  wonted  hospitality ;  thus  hoping  to  secure  the  support  of  a 
large  party  to  the  Suppression  and  the  Reformation,  and  also  to 
pacify  the  people  by  the  continuance  of  the  old  monkish  bounty. 
Fifteen  new  monasteries  and  sixteen  nunneries  were  also  founded, 
with  strict  rules.  But  the  discontent  was  alike  wide  and  deep, 
and  was  soon  to  burst  into  a  flame,  for  every  pulpit,  and  every 
public  cross  rang  with  denunciations,  and  thousands  of  monks 
and  nuns,  now  turned  on  the  world,  everywhere  appealed  to  the 
popular  sympathy. 

It  must  always,  to  a  large  extent,  be  so  in  all  such  crises. 
The  dissolution  of  the  religious  houses  was  a  necessity  alike  of 
morality,  religion,  and  public  policy,  and  had  already  been  found 
to  be  so  in  Germany,  where  they  had  been  suppressed,  in  some 
cases,  as  early  as  1524.  In  our  own  century  and  the  close  of 
the  last,  their  suppression  in  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  and 
Mexico,  vindicates  the  earlier  wisdom  of  our  forefathers.  The 
sufferings  of  individuals,  often  personally  innocent ;  the  fact 
that  the  houses  served — as  homes  where  thousands  led  an  idle 
and  easy  life  ;  as  the  inns  of  the  time ;  the  distributors  of  alms, 
and  the  only  substitute,  however  poor,  for  public  schools, — must 
not  make  us  forget  their  essential  worthlessness.  They  were 
notoriously  the  most  corrupt  part  of  the  Church,  when  corruption 
was  the  rule.  Even  Churchmen  like  Morton  and  Wolsey  had 
denounced  them  as  strongly  as  Cromwell's  visitors — charging 
them  with  gross  immorality,  and  with  being  "  so  many  idle 


Aj).  1536.1  The  Bible  in  English.  293 

mouths  that  did  neither  the  Church  nor  the  State  any  service, 
but  were  a  reproach  for  their  Hves  and  a  burden  to  the  country."* 
Still  more,  they  were  the  deadly  enemies  of  the  spiritual  liberty 
which  England  had  just  asserted ;  while  loyal  to  the  Pope,  they 
were  nests  of  conspiracy  against  the  State.  Their  suppression, 
therefore,  cannot  be  lamented,  however  much  the  mode  of  it 
may  be  condemned. 

But  the  times  were  wretched.  "  It  is  not  life  which  most 
now  live,  but  misery,"  said  Ascham,  eleven  years  later.  No 
country  in  Europe  had  so  many  beggars.  Yet  the  peasantry, 
in  their  distress,  had  not  forgotten  the  past  so  wholly,  as  to  sink 
contentedly  into  the  degradation  which  has  made  it  possible  for 
a  popular  writer  in  our  own  day  to  speak  of  those  of  a  certain 
shire,  as  very  little  above  the  oxen  they  drive.  In  many  cases 
their  fathers,  like  Latimer's  father,  had  been  sturdy  yeomen 
with  farms  of  "three  or  four  pounds  by  the  year,  tilling  so 
much  as  kept  half-a-dozen  men;  with  a  walk  for  a  hundred 
sheep ;  his  wife  milking  thirty  kine ;  "  and  it  took  generations 
for  their  children  to  fall  to  the  level  they  were  hereafter  to 
reach. 

All  these  causes,  working  together,  at  last  broke  into  insur- 
rection, and  it  became  clear  that  a  peasants'  war,  like  that  of 
Germany  ten  years  before,  was  imminent,  as  More  and  others 
had  predicted.  In  October,  20,000  men  rose  in  Lincolnshire, 
led  by  one  Melton,  a  shoemaker,  whom  Burnet  calls  a  priest  in 
disguise.  They  complained  of  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries ; 
of  the  king  employing  mean  and  ill  counsellors — that  is,  Crom- 
well and  Audley ;  of  bad  bishops — that  is,  the  Reformers ;  and 
of  four  of  the  Sacraments  being  taken  away.  Yet  they  acknow- 
ledged the  king  as  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  and  took 
an  oath  to  be  true  to  him,  to  God,  and  to  the  commonwealth. 
Henry  treated  them  with  the  most  contemptuous  defiance,  asking 
them  what  right  they,  "  the  rude  commons  of  one  shire,  and 

'  Burnet,  i.  42. 


294  1^^  English  Reformation.  [ajj.  1536. 

that  the  most  brute  and  beastly  of  the  whole  realm,"  had  to 
question  the  prince  whom  they  were  bound  '*'  to  obey  and  serve 
with  their  lives,  lands,  and  goods."  Meanwhile,  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk,  Henry's  brother-in-law,  was  sent  north  with  an  army,  and 
his  liberal  promises  and  temperate  bearing  speedily  broke  up  the 
peasant  force,  so  that  in  a  fortnight  most  of  it  had  quietly 
dispersed. 

But  this  was  only  the  first  bursting  of  the  storm.  The  same 
messenger  that  brought  news  of  the  rising  in  Lincolnshire,  told 
of  a  far  more  formidable  movement  in  Yorkshire.  The  same 
grievances  were  urged,  but  the  leaders  were  men  of  higher 
social  position  and  greater  ability.  On  their  banners  and  their 
sleeves  they  had  the  five  wounds  of  Christ,  and  took  an  oath  to 
restore  the  Church,  suppress  heretics,  preserve  the  king  and  his 
issue,  and  drive  from  him  base-born  men  and  ill  counsellors. 
These,  however,  were  only  the  signs  of  the  influence  of  the 
monks  in  exciting  the  insurrection.  Far  deeper  and  more  truly 
its  cause,  as  afterwards  found  from  prisoners,  was  the  hope  of 
removing  such  evils  as  the  enclosure  of  the  land,  the  rise  of 
prices,  and  the  want  of  work.  The  insurgents  were  soon 
40,000  strong,  and  set  out  on  the  march  to  London,  under  a 
local  gentleman  named  Aske,  proclaiming  their  progress  as 
the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace.  York  and  Hull  were  presently 
seized,  and  to  make  matters  worse  the  other  northern  counties 
joined  the  insurrection. 

At  court  all  was  confusion  and  alarm,  and  the  Tudor  dynasty 
trembled  in  the  balance.  The  king  had  no  standing  array  to 
oppose  them ;  nothing  indeed  but  a  few  palace  guards.  Had 
the  rebels  marched  quickly  to  London,  the  Reformation  would 
for  the  time  have  been  ruined.  But  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
having  summoned  the  levies  of  loyal  shires,  was  sent  to  oppose 
them.  Having  seized  Doncaster,  he  delayed  their  advance 
by  dexterous  negotiations,  persuading  the  king  to  offer  a 
general  pardon,  and  sending  emissaries  among  them  to  promote 
dissension,  till  they  began  to  fall  away  from  their  standards. 


A.D.  1536.1  The  Bible  in  English.  295 

Tempestuous  weather  came  to  the  king's  help  a  little  later,  and 
swelled  the  streams  so  that  they  could  not  cross  them  when  at 
last  they  determined  to  advance,  and  finally,  by  the  end  of 
October,  they  had  dispersed,  and  the  king's  army  was  sent  home 
again  as  no  longer  needed.  But  the  insincerity  of  Henry,  and 
the  restlessness  of  the  people,  left  a  dangerous  excitement  over 
all  the  north,  which  broke  out  into  open  rebellion  again  a  few 
months  later. 

Henceforth,  there  was  no  real  danger.  The  Reformation 
had  finally  triumphed.  But  the  changes  it  had  brought,  which, 
though  veiled,  had  been  immense,  were  bitterly  opposed,  as  far 
as  safety  allowed,  by  men  who,  like  Gardiner,  while  forced  to 
see  the  Church  independent  of  the  Pope,  hated  every  alteration 
of  its  doctrine  or  constitution. 

While  the  clouds  were  gathering  in  the  summer  for  the  great 
northern  storm,  the  New  Era  had  made  another  departure  which 
decided  its  character  for  ever.  Ten  years  had  passed  since 
Tyndale's  Nev/  Testament  had  found  its  way  to  England,  where 
it  had  from  the  first  been  eagerly  sought  and  circulated  in 
secret  by  thousands,  in  spite  of  every  effort  of  the  bishops.  The 
gaol,  the  pillory,  and  the  stake  had  been  tried,  but  without 
effect,  for  men's  hearts  were  set  on  knowing  the  truth  at  first 
hand,  and  would  not  be  balked.  Before  1530,  three  editions 
had  been  sold,  and  in  that  year  a  revised  and  corrected  edition 
had  been  issued  and  had  reached  England. 

Thanks  to  Anne  Boleyn  and  Cromwell,  with  his  "  Testament 
learned  by  heart,"  Henry,  as  we  have  seen,  had  at  last  forced 
Convocation  to  take  action,  under  Cranmer's  guidance,  in  pro- 
viding a  Bible  for  the  people.  While  prohibiting  Tyndale's 
Testament,  he  had  issued  his  command  that  they  should  them- 
selves, with  the  help  of  the  best  scholars,  make  a  new  translation, 
"  that  the  people  might  not  be  ignorant  of  the  law  of  God." 
Had  they  been  wise,  they  would  have  seized  the  opportunity  of 
preparing  a  version  as  innocent,  from  their  point  of  view,  as 
possible,  and  of  thus  securing  for  themselves  at  once  prestige 
14 


296  TJie  English  Reformation.  u.d.  i5:?6. 

and  safety.  But  the  Reformation,  from  first  to  last,  was  not  to 
emanate  from  the  clergy,  but  to  be  forced  on  them.  They  had 
submitted  to  the  crown  only  on  compulsion ;  the  law  against 
heretics  had  been  modified  against  their  will ;  they  had  been 
reluctantly  compelled  to  abandon  the  canon  law  when  it  con- 
flicted with  that  of  the  land  ;  to  abate  their  fees  in  their  courts, 
and  for  their  various  official  services,  and  to  accept  the  Act 
respecting  pluralities  and  non-residence.  In  the  same  way, 
they  were  to  show  themselves  the  steady  opponents,  to  the  end, 
of  any  foi-ward  steps  in  religious  reform.  Their  own  resolution 
of  Convocation  to  prepare  an  authorized  edition  was  simply 
ignored,  where  it  was  not  openly  opposed,  as  it  was  by  Stokesley. 
To  have  shown  any  zeal  in  the  undertaking  would  have  been  to 
stultify  their  declaration,  made  so  lately  as  May,  1530,  that 
"  it  was  not  necessary  to  set  forth  the  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar 
tongue."^  They  had  acted  at  all  only  under  fear  of  the  king, 
and,  even  when  they  affected  compliance  with  Cranmer's 
arrangements  to  carry  out  the  work,  did  nothing  more. 

Tyndale  had,  meanwhile,  been  laboriously  improving  his 
Testament,  and  had  added  to  it  a  translation  of  the  "  Lessons  " 
from  the  Old  Testament,  as  given  in  the  Primer  of  Salisbury, 
then  much  in  use.  They  included  not  only  extracts  from  the 
books  of  the  Pentateuch,  which  he  had  already  translated,  but 
also  from  many  other  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  well  as 
from  the  apocryphal  books.  These  he  now  appended  to  a  new 
edition  of  his  Testament,  and  issued  them  with  it,  in  1534, 
supplying  England  with  a  book  very  much  hke  the  "  Church 
Service  "  now  in  use.  He  had  translated,  besides,  the  Book 
of  Jonah,  and  this,  with  his  Pentateuch,  was  also  published.  ^ 

It  was  clear,  therefore,  that  if  the  Church  did  not  itself  pro- 
vide an  English  Bible,  it  would  soon  be  supplied  by  volunteers, 
and  be    forced  upon   it.      Tyndale's   hopes   were  every   day 

'  Burnet,  Ref.  i.  325. 

*  A  copy  presented  by  Tyndale  to  Anne  Boleyn,  in  gratitude  for  her 
favour  shown  to  his  labours,  is  still  in  existence. 


A.D.  IS36.]  TJte  Bible  in  English.  297 

brighter,  of  living  to  see  his  countrymen  have  the  Word  of  God 
in  their  own  language.  For  eight  years  men  had  been  treated 
as  criminals  for  having  even  his  New  Testament,  but  its 
enemies  had  so  utterly  failed  in  their  attempts  to  prohibit  its 
use,  that  they  had  almost  given  up  the  struggle,  and  any  one 
might  now  get  even  his  edition  with  the  Old  Testament  lessons, 
and  read  it  in  private. 

The  dogged  obstinacy  of  the  Old  Party  was  fighting  a 
vain  battle  against  the  inevitable  and  the  right.  While  they 
were  trying  to  put  off  the  whole  scheme  till  an  opportunity 
came  for  openly  crushing  it,  diligent  students  had  been  at  work 
on  the  Continent,  and  had  now  almost  completed  their  labours. 
Miles  Coverdale,  a  Yorkshireman,  who  had  been  educated  in 
the  Aug^tine  friary  at  Cambridge,  under  Dr.  Barnes,  and  had 
thus  belonged  to  Bilney's  circle,  had  been  named  to  Tunstal,  in 
1528,  as  heretical,^  and  had  had  to  flee  to  Hamburg  for  his  life. 
There  we  find  him,  in  1529,  at  work  with  Tyndale  and  John 
Rogers,  also  a  Cambridge  man,  and  English  chaplain  at  Ant- 
werp, in  completing  the  translation  of  the  whole  Bible  into 
English,  which,  except  that  of  the  Apocrypha,  was  effected 
before  Tyndale's  death.  A  printer  having  soon  after  been  found 
at  Zurich,  reformed  through  Zuringlius  since  1523,  the  printing 
had  been  finished  in  October,  1535,  and  now,  in  1536,  on  the 
eve  of  the  great  Peasant  Risings,  when  the  Romanists  were 
plotting  the  overthrow  of  the  new  order  of  things,  the  book 
appeared  in  England,  as  a  great  folio,  published  with  the  royal 
sanction,  and  dedicated  to  the  king.  The  complete  Bible  was  at 
last  within  the  reach  of  Englishmen,  and  on  it,  as  an  immovable 
and  indestructible  foundation,  the  English  Reformation  was 
henceforth  to  rest.  But  it  is  never  to  be  forgotten  that  it  was 
not  to  the  Old  Church  we  owe  this  momentous  gift,  but  to 
the  Reformers,  supported  by  Heniy  VIII.  The  convictions 
kindled  in  the  king's  mind  by  Tyndale's  writings,  which  we 

^  Foxe,  V.  40. 


298  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1536. 

know  him  to  have  read,  and  the  evangelical  zeal  of  Anne 
Boleyn,  Cromwell,  Cranmer,  and  Latimer,  secured  this  mighty 
blessing  for  England.  Coverdale,  in  his  preface,  gives  Henry 
full  credit  for  having  forced  on  the  Church  the  light  it  was 
determined,  if  possible,  to  exclude;  and  his  title-page  still  more 
strikingly  embodies  the  fact.  The  engraving  on  it  represents 
the  king  on  the  throne,  holding  in  each  hand  a  book,  on  which 
is  written,  "  The  Word  of  God."  One  of  these  he  is  giving  to 
the  primate,  Cranmer,  to  a  bishop,  and  a  group  of  priests — the 
collective  symbol  of  the  Church,  with  the  words,  "  Take  this 
and  teach ;"  the  second,  on  the  opposite  side,  he  is  handing 
to  Cromwell  and  the  lay  peers,  with  the  words,  "I  make  a 
decree  that,  in  all  my  kingdom,  men  shall  tremble  and  fear 
before  the  living  God." 

But  the  main  agent  in  procuring  for  England  this  priceless 
gift  was  now  about  to  pass  to  his  reward.  Watched  incessantly 
by  the  emissaries  of  the  English  bishops,  Tyndale  had  at  last 
been  treacherously  arrested  in  May,  1535,  ^  month  before  his 
g^eat  enemy,  More,  was  beheaded.  Handed  over  to  the  keeping 
of  the  emperor,  at  Antwerp,  he  had  lain  in  prison  since  then, 
winning  golden  opinions  even  from  the  public  prosecutor,  as 
"  a  good  and  godly  man,"^  and  gaining  over  "  his  gaoler,  his 
daughter,  and  others  of  his  household  "  to  the  truth  ;  his  days 
and  nights  being  meanwhile  given  to  the  great  work  of  his  life, 
by  the  help  of  his  "  Hebrew  Grammar,  Hebrew  Bible,  and 
Hebrew  Dictionary,"  which  had  been  allowed  him,  at  his 
petition. 

Cranmer  and  Cromwell  did  what  they  could  to  deliver  him, 
but  it  was  equally  hopeless  to  move  either  Henry  or  Charles  in 
behalf  of  one  who,  whatever  his  merits,  was  a  Lutheran,  and  at 
last,  in  the  autumn  of  1536,  he  followed  in  the  long  train  of 
martyrs  for  whom  Rome  has  one  day  to  give  an  account.  "  If 
they  shall  burn  me,"  he  had  said,  eight  years  before,  "  they 

^  Foxe,  v.  127. 


A.D.  1536]  The  Bible  in  English.  299 

shall  do  none  other  thing  than  I  look  for."  *'  There  is  none 
other  way  into  the  kingdom  of  life  than  through  persecution 
and  suffering  of  pain,  and  of  very  death,  after  the  ensample 
of  Christ."  But,  had  he  known  it,  his  work  was  done,  for 
Coverdale's  Bible,  which  was  really  his  translation  with  Cover- 
dale's  revision,  was  already  officially  sanctioned  in  England. 
He  could  scarcely  have  known  that  this  great  triumph  had 
been  won,  for  his  last  words  were,  "  Lord,  open  the  king  of 
England's  eyes ;"  but  won  it  was  not  the  less  surely,  and  the 
news  of  it  was  known  in  the  heavens  to  which  death  introduced 
him,  if  not  in  his  cell  at  Vilvorde.  Like  a  true  hero,  he  had 
fought  the  fight,  and  finished  the  course,  and  kept  the  faith  :  his 
work  was  done,  and,  having  served  his  master  so  well,  he  was  let 
thus  early  enter  into  His  rest. 


Note.  — The  noble  example  of  Germany  was  the  ideal  of  the  Reformers 
in  reference  to  the  sequestration  of  Church  or  Monastic  property.  There, 
they  had  seen  the  income  of  each  benefice  left,  as  a  rule,  untouched,  and 
devoted  lo  its  former  objects ;  the  property  of  Hospitals  and  Aims-Houses 
also  kept  sacred  to  their  use,  and  that  of  Monasteries  devoted  largely  to 
founding  schools  and  aiding  University  education.  Part  of  it  also  went  to 
found  the  noble  female  boaruing-scbools  and  homes  of  some  parts  of  the 
country.     Herzog.  xiv.  181. 

The  intimate  relations  of  the  English  Reformers  with  the  German 
extended  to  an  identity  of  their  views  in  this  matter.  Had  they  had  their 
will,  what  a  country  should  we  now  have  had !  All  our  people  would  have 
been  educated  thoroughly  for  the  last  300  years !  Nor  would  even  this 
have  been  half  of  the  blessings  they  would  have  secured  us  by  their 
magnificent  schemes  of  wise  beneficence. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 

FIFTEEN  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY-SEVEN. 

AFRESH  outbreak  of  the  northern  rebellion  disturbed  the 
month  of  February,  1537,  but  it  was  speedily  suppressed, 
and  there  only  remained  the  vengeance  usual  in  those  days. 
Henry's  commands  were  worthy  of  him,  and,  like  much  besides 
in  his  life,  entitle  him,  beyond  most,  to  a  place  in  that  river  of 
blood  in  which  Dante  saw  the  souls  of  tyrants 

"  As  high  as  to  their  brow  immersed, 
Wailing  aloud  their  merciless  crimes."* 

Norfolk  was,  "  in  anywise,  to  cause  such  dreadful  execution 
to  be  done  upon  a  good  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  every 
town,  village,  and  hamlet  that  has  offended  in  this  rebellion,  as 
well  by  the  hanging  them  up  in  trees,  as  by  the  quartering  of 
them,  and  the  setting  of  their  heads  and  quarters  in  every 
town,  as  may  be  a  fearful  spectacle  to  all  others ;"  and  the 
monks  and  canons  of  certain  abbeys  named  were  to  be  similarly 
treated,  when  "  in  anywise  faulty."  It  was  not  till  seven 
months  after  the  rebellion  that  the  royal  monster  had  sufficiently 
slaked  his  thirst  for  blood  to  tell  Norfolk  "  to  remember  they 
be  our  subjects,  though  evil  men  and  offenders.'"^ 
The  leaders   were   more  deliberately   dealt   with.      On   any 


*  Inferno,  Canto  xiL 


State  Papers,  i.  537,  5^5- 


A.D.  1537]         Fifteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-seven.  301 

evidence  or  on  none  they  were  executed,  the  indisputable  autho- 
rity of  Sir  Thomas  ^More  respecting  the  judges  of  his  day 
making  it  certain  that  "  fair  pretences  will  never  be  wanting 
when  sentence  is  to  be  given  in  the  prince's  favour."^  In  spite 
of  previous  pardon,  all  who  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the 
rising  were  arrested  and  put  to  death,  after  a  form  of  trial. 
The  spectacle  was  now  seen  for  the  first  time  in  England, 
except  in  the  case  of  Cardinal  Fisher,  of  dignified  ecclesiastics 
treated  as  only  equal  to  other  citizens  in  the  eyes  of  the  law. 
Humbler  men  in  holy  orders  had  already  suffered,  but  now 
abbots  were  hung  on  gibbets,  with  no  more  hesitation  than 
common  peasants.  Among  the  Lincolnshire  prisoners,  two 
abbots  and  a  monk  suffered,  and  among  those  from  the  north, 
the  great  Abbots  of  Fountains  and  Jervaulx,  in  Yorkshire,  like- 
wise died  on  the  scaffold.  Robert  Aske,  the  leader  of  the 
revolt,  though  he  had  been  pardoned  in  the  autumn  and  invited 
to  court,  was  condemned  and  hung  in  chains  from  one  of  the 
towers  of  York,  for  alleged  participation  in  some  new  disturb- 
ances. A  number  of  knights  and  a  peer.  Lord  Darcy,  were 
likewise  executed,  and  Lady  Bulmer  was  burned  at  Smithfield. 
Darcy  died  with  a  malediction  on  Cromwell,  whom  he  accused 
as  the  cause  of  all  the  executions ;  but  it  must  have  been  only 
as  Henry's  agent,  willing  and  sometimes  harsh,  it  may  be,  but 
always  subordinate,  and  always  under  the  compulsion  of  mortal 
fear  for  himself  if  slackness  were  shown  in  carrying  out  Henry's 
commands.  A  letter  sent  by  the  king  in  answer  to  the  wish  of 
the  Earl  of  Sussex  that  an  old  soldier,  condemned  at  this  time  for 
a  share  in  the  Lancashire  rising,  should  be  pardoned,  shows  on 
whom  the  guilt  of  these  cruel  doings  should  rest.  "  Concerning 
the  old  man,  whom  you  wrote  to  have  respited,"  says  Heniy, 
"  upon  the  lamentation  he  made  at  the  bar,  and  the  allegation 

'  Utopia:  Burnet's  Translation,  37.  How  completely  does  this  chapter 
of  Utopia  refute  Mr.  Green's  theory  that  Henry  was  the  passive,  or  com- 
paratively passive  spectator  of  the  creation  of  a  despotism  for  him,  in  Church 
and  State,  by  Wolsey  and  CromwelL 


302  The  English  Reformation.  [a  d.  1537. 

of  his  service,  thrice  heretofore,  against  the  Scots,  and  otherwise, 
done  to  Us  •  albeit  we  cannot  but  take  your  respite  of  him  in 
good  part,  yet,  considering  he  has  so  often  received  our  wages, 
and  would,  nevertheless,  at  the  last,  be  corrupted  against  Us, 
we  think  him,  for  an  example,  more  worthy  to  suffer  than  the 
rest,  that  before  had  no  experience  of  our  princely  puissance, 
nor  have  received  any  benefit  of  Us ;  and  so  remit  him  unto 
you  to  be  executed,  according  to  his  judgment  given,  for  his 
offences  committed  against  Us."  Surely  Tiberius  or  Nero  never 
wrote  anything  more  heartless  or  more  brutal. 

Yet  it  was  a  cause  of  thankfulness  for  England  that  these 
revolts  were  so  quickly  put  down.  The  monks  and  friars,  as 
Machiavel  said  in  his  "  Vindication,"  published,  while  these 
tumults  were  convulsing  the  country,  were  "  the  Janizaries  of  the 
Papacy."  "  They  held,"  he  says,  "  almost  a  third  part  of  all 
the  land  of  Europe,"  and  had  held  much  more  of  the  surface  of 
England:  "Princes  and  governors"  were  "  only  their  bravos 
and  hangmen,"  and  "  the  least  fibre  of  this  plant,"  left  unrooted 
up,  "  would  overrun  again  the  whole  vineyard  of  the  Lord." 
Had  Henry  not  crushed  these  risings,  men  like  Gardiner,  and 
Stokesley,  and  Nix  would  have  kindled  the  fires  of  Smithfield 
over  the  whole  land,  till  they  had  quenched  our  dawning 
religious  liberty,  as  Lollardism  had  been  trampled  out  in  the 
generations  after  Wycliffe.  Had  Aske  and  Darcy  succeeded, 
England  would  have  been  a  Protestant  shambles,  such  as  men 
saw  erelong  in  the  Netherlands  and  France. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1536,  Cromwell  had  issued  an 
injunction,  on  the  first  announcement  of  the  completion  of 
Coverdale's  Bible,  requiring  "every  parson  or  proprietary"  of 
every  parish  church  in  England  to  provide,  before  the  ist  of 
August,  1537,  a  copy  of  "  the  whole  Bible,  both  in  Latin  and 
also  in  English,"  and  to  lay  it  in  the  church  choir,  "  for  every 
man  that  will  to  read  and  look  therein."  No  one  was  to  be  dis- 
couraged from  reading  any  part  of  it,  but  rather  counselled  to 
study  it  soberly  and  modestly,  avoiding  controverted  passages, 


A4J.  1537]  Fifteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-seven.  303 

and  using  the  rest  as  "  the  very  word  of  God,  and  the  spiritual 
food  of  men's  souls."  The  great  folio  edition  thus  referred  to 
had  shortly  after  been  published,  and  doubtless  had  been 
to  some  extent  introduced  to  the  churches  as  Cromwell 
desired.  But  1537  was  to  see  another  edition  of  Coverdale's 
Bible  issued,  as  a  second  private  venture,  like  the  first.  One  of 
Tyndale's  companions  on  the  Continent,  mentioned  already,  had 
been  one  John  Rogers,  a  Cambridge  man,  afterwards  English 
chaplain  at  Antwerp,  where  Tyndale  and  Coverdale  found  him, 
and  won  him  over  to  the  reformed  faith.  What  his  share  in 
the  revision  of  Tyndale's  Old  Testament  was  cannot  be  exactly 
known,  but  he  and  Coverdale  aided  as  far  as  they  had  oppor- 
tunity, and  the  second  edition  had  been  corrected  for  the  press 
by  him.  He  was  hereafter  to  be  a  prebendary,  of  St.  Paul's, 
and  the  first  martyr  under  Queen  Mary  but  for  the  present,  and 
indeed  until  Edward  VI. 's  time,  remained  on  the  Continent. 
A  second  edition  of  Coverdale's  Bible  had  been  undertaken  by 
Grafton  and  Whitchurch,  the  king's  printers,  before  that  of 
Rogers  was  published,  Cromwell  having  obtained  the  royal  per- 
mission. It  appeared  in  August,  1537,  with  the  significant 
words  in  red  type  across  the  title,  "  Set  forth  by  the  king's  most 
gracious  license."  The  cost  to  the  printer,  for  an  edition  of 
1,500,  had  been  ;^500,  a  sum  equal  to  jC6,ooo  now ;  but  he 
was  protected  from  competition  for  three  years,  and  the  clergy 
were  required  to  buy  copies  for  the  churches.  So  great  was 
the  demand,  however,  that  one  publisher  proposed  to  bring  out 
a  small  Bible  for  easier  use  by  private  readers,  and  several  edi- 
tions of  Tyndale's  Testament  had  been  issued  in  1536.  Twenty- 
five  editions  of  it  had  been  issued  since  1526,'  and  the  demand 
was  "constantly  increasing,  for  men  might  now  read  the  Scrip- 
tures at  home  as  well  as  in  the  churches. 

To  Cranmer  and  the  Reformers  this  fresh  issue  of  the  whole 
English  Bible  was  a  source  of  great  joy.  "  As  for  the  translation," 

*  Blunt's  English  Bible,  46,  47,  note. 


304  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  15*7. 

he  wrote  to  Cromwell,  "  so  far  as  I  have  read,  I  like  it  better 
than  any  other  hitherto  made,  yet  not  doubting  that  there 
may  and  will  be  found  some  fault  therein,  as  you  know  no  man 
ever  did  or  can  do  so  well,  but  it  may  be  from  time  to  time 
amended.  I  pray  you,  my  lord,  that  you  will  exhibit  the  book 
to  the  king's  grace,  and  obtain,  if  you  can,  a  license  that  it  may 
be  sold  and  read  by  every  person  without  danger  of  any  act, 
proclamation,  or  ordinance,  hitherto  granted  to  the  contrary, 
until  such  time  as  we,  the  bishops,  shall  set  forth  a  better  \.x^n%- 
\3Xion,  which,  I  iht'nk,  will  not  be  till  a  day  after  doomsday."'^ 
Cromwell  was  equally  zealous,  and  at  once  did  as  requested, 
filling  Cranmer's  heart  with  "  gladness  and  gratitude."  "  He 
should  hear  of  his  good  deed,"  wrote  the  Archbishop, "  at  the  last 
day.  Such  knowledge  would  result  from  it,  that  it  would  be 
seen  he  had  done  excellent  service  both  to  God  and  the  king. 
It  had  been  a  greater  pleasure  to  himself  than  a  gift  of  ;^i,ooo 
(=;^i  2,000).  The  Bishop  of  Worcester — Latimer — was  also 
highly  obliged  to  him." 

The  Ten  Articles  passed  in  1536  by  Convocation  at  the  dic- 
tation of  Henry  had  meanwhile  been  found  unsatisfactory. 
Instead  of  promoting  imion  they  had  increased  division,  for  each 
side  gave  them  its  own  colour.  Though  ably  written,  moreover, 
they  needed  explanation  and  comment,  for  the  clergy  were  in 
many  cases  exceedingly  ignorant.  Neither  Parliament  nor 
Convocation  met  this  year,  however,  and  a  Special  Commission 
was  therefore  summoned  to  meet  at  the  Archbishop's  house  at 
Lambeth,  to  prepare  a  fuller  Manual  of  Faith,  alike  for  public 
and  private  use.  Twenty-one  bishops  and  twenty-five  of  the 
foremost  theologians  formed  the  body  to  whose  care  this  first 
ofiicial  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  the  English  Church  was 
entrusted.  Gardiner  and  Stokesley  were  the  chief  representa- 
tives on  the  Romish  side ;  Hilsey,  Fox,  and  Cranmer,  on  that 
of  the  Reformers,  for  Latimer  was  to  a  large  extent  indifferent 


*  Strype,  i.  126,  date,  August  4,  1537. 


A.D.  IS370        Fifteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-seven.  305 

to  doctrinal  distinctions,  devoting  himself  rather  to  practical 
religion,  as  if  our  practice  did  not  always  depend  greatly  on  our 
opinions. 

The  plague  was  raging  that  summer  in  London,  but  the 
discussions  of  the  Commission  dragged  on  from  April  to 
August,  till  Latimer  frankly  owned  that  "  he  had  lever  be  poor 
parson  of  Kynton  again,  than  continue,  thus,  Bishop  of  Wor- 
cester."^ People  were  dying  even  at  the  Archbishop's  gates, 
and  the  Commissioners  were  anxious  to  be  away  from  so  dan- 
gerous a  neighbourhood. 

By  the  beginning  of  August,  however,  the  book  was  virtually 
finished,  and  was  sent  to  Cromwell  to  be  submitted  to  Henry. 
But  the  king  did  not  choose,  for  some  reason,  to  let  it  be  pub- 
lished under  his  immediate  authority,  though  it  was  issued  by 
the  "King's  Printer."  Hence  it  appeared  as  "The  Bishops' 
Book,"  with  only  the  recommendation  of  the  Commission,  not, 
as  afterwards,  in  subsequent  editions  as  "  The  King's  Book." 
Henry,  however,  in  ordering  it  to  be  printed,  expressed  himself 
satisfied  with  it,  so  far  as  he  had  read  it,  and  commanded 
that  part  of  it  should  be  read  from  the  pulpits  every  Sunday  and 
Feast-day,  for  the  next  three  years.  Yet  "The  Bishops'  Book  " 
was  in  no  sense  a  reliable  expression  of  the  opinions  of  either  the 
Romanists  or  Reformers,  lay  or  clerical.  It  represented  only 
the  theology  of  Henry,  who  dictated  the  faith  of  the  nation  with 
a  serene  confidence  in  his  divine  right  to  do  so.  He  himself 
had  drawn  up  the  Ten  Articles  "  with  his  own  pen,"''  and  sent 
them  to  the  Convocation  for  acceptance,  that  they  might  be 
published  as  the  result  of  their  deliberations.  They  were  then 
sent  forth  to  the  people  with  a  proclamation,  "  willing,  requiring, 
and  commanding  that  all  accept  them."  In  the  same  way,  the 
draft  of  the  Bishops'  Book  was  at  once  sent  to  the  king,  who 


'  Strype,  i.  108. 

*  Lord   Herbert's   Life  of  Henry  VIIL,  ed.  1672,   p.  466.    Wilkin's 
Concilia,  vol.  iil  p.  825. 


3o6  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1537- 

"  diligently  perased,  corrected,  and  augmented  it  at  his  leisure," 
keeping  it  for  five  or  six  months  to  do  so,  and  then  returning  it 
to  Cranmer  for  his  annotations.  These  having  been  made,  it 
was  returned  to  Henry  with  an  humble  letter  from  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  it  saw  the  light  at  last,  only  after  his  criticisms  had 
been  approved  or  rejected  by  the  supreme  will.^ 

Thus  neither  the  clergy  nor  the  English  people  had  any  free 
voice  either  in  the  Ten  Articles  or  the  Bishops'  Book,  and  it  is 
an  error  to  treat  them  as  the  recorded  sentiments  of  the  Church 
or  of  the  age.  The  Protestantism  of  England  never  had  an 
opportunity  of  public  speech,  for  the  whip,  the  gaol,  and  the 
stake  awaited  any  one  who  went  on  a  step  ahead  of  the  royal 
pleasure.  Neither  the  hierarchy  nor  the  clergy  were  free,  and 
the  people  had  no  lay  representation  at  all  in  religious  matters. 

Yet  the  Bishops'  Book  was  coloured  by  the  agitations  of  the 
time.  The  Ten  Articles  had  utterly  failed  to  restore  that  union 
of  belief  which  Henry  still  fancied  he  had  the  right,  as  supreme 
head  of  the  Church,  to  demand,  and  the  power  to  enforce.  The 
country  was  divided  into  two  hostile  camps,  for  and  against  the 
Reformation.  Every  village  ale-house,  every  forge,  every  gather- 
ing of  the  people,  every  pulpit,  and  every  market  cross  was  the 
scene  of  bitter  disputes.  Fierce  words  passed  in  all  parts,  for 
and  against  the  New  Learning,  the  sinlessness  of  Mary,  or  the 
reverse, — about  Ave  Marias  and  Paternosters,  about  the  honour, 
that  is,  worship,  to  be  paid  to  the  saints,  a  question  touching 
pilgrimages,  intercessions,  and  much  else  in  the  Romish 
theology.  Purgatory  itself  was  a  fierce  fire.  "  Soul-priests,"  said 
Latimer,  "  might  sing  till  they  be  blear-eyed,  and  say  till  they 
have  worn  their  tongues  to  the  stumps,  without  bringing  us  out 
of  hell,  guilty  creatures  as -we  be."  Ballads  flew  thick.  To 
laugh  at  purgatory  was  touching  the  Church  in  the  tenderest 
part,  its  chest.  The  "  many  idle  and  slothful  lubbers,"  as  their 
opponents  called  them,  coarsely  enough,  who  "  fed  "  so  "  fat  "  on 

'  Strype's  Cranmer,  i.  109,  1 10. 


AD.  IS37-]         Fifteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-seven.  307 

the  wealth  it  brought,  "  swelled  as  if  a  wasp  had  stung  them  " 
when  it  was  attacked. 

The  new  book  was  designed  to  end  this  state  of  things  by 
supplying  a  fuller  manual  of  faith  than  the  Ten  Articles  pro- 
vided. It  contained  an  Exposition  of  the  Creed,  the  Sacra- 
ments, the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ave  Maria,  and  two  chapters 
on  Justification  and  Purgatory.  Retaining  the  great  principle 
that  all  things  are  to  be  determined  only  "  according  to  the  true 
meaning  of  Scripture ;  "  insisting  on  man's  salvation  as  derived 
only  from  the  atoning  death  of  Christ,  without  any  share  of 
merit  from  good  works ;  leaving  marriage  open  to  all  without 
exception,  though  commending  celibacy  as  preferable,  it  yet  in 
other  points  receded  from  the  standard  of  the  Articles.  Besides 
the  three  which  they  mention — Baptism,  The  Eucharist,  and 
Penance — the  four  other  Romish  Sacraments  were  acknowledged, 
though  only  a  subordinate  importance  was  ascribed  to  them. 
It  shut  out  from  salvation  all  outside  the  pale  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  but  it  spoke  of  the  Church  of  Rome  as  only  one  mem- 
ber of  that  great  whole. 

Transubstantiation  had  gradually  come  to  be  almost  the  only 
point,  beyond  the  three  Creeds,  which  united  the  faith  of  the 
mass  of  the  people.  Cranmer  himself  firmly  believed  it.  "  Since 
this  Catholic  faith,  which  we  hold  respecting  the  real  presence," 
he  wrote  this  very  year,  "  has  been  declared  to  the  Church  from 
the  beginning  by  such  evident  and  manifest  passages  of  Scripture, 
and  the  same  has  also  been  commended  to  the  ears  of  the  faith- 
ful with  so  much  clearness  and  diligence  by  the  first  ecclesias- 
tical writers ;  do  not,  I  pray,  persist  in  wishing  any  longer  to 
carp  at  or  subvert  a  doctrine  so  well  groxmded  and  supported."  * 
On  the  other  hand,  while  the  Archbishop  of  York  held  tena- 
ciously to  Apostolic  Succession,  Cranmer  thought  that  priests 
and  bishops  needed  no  consecration,  and  were  sufficiently  set 
apart  to  their  office  if  simply  nominated  by  the  crown, 

*  Letter  to  Vadian.     Zurich  Letters,  14. 


3o8  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1537, 

How  far  the  Primate's  views  were  toned  down  by  Henry  in 
the  Bishops'  Book  can  never  be  known.  Gentle  in  disposition 
and  pure-spirited  beyond  his  age/  he  had  a  hard  position,  with 
men  like  Gardiner  on  one  side,  watching  for  his  life  if  he 
advanced  heresy,  and  Henry  on  the  other  manipulating  all  he 
wrote.  His  deep  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  and  familiarity 
with  the  Fathers,  from  whom  he  had  gathered  extracts  filling 
many  volumes,  qualified  him  especially  for  his  work ;  but  with- 
out his  sweet  equality  of  temper,  and  stout-heartedness  for  what 
he  believed  to  be  true,  they  would  have  been  of  little  avail. 
What  he  strove  to  do  we  partly  know  :  what  the  opposition  of 
the  Romish  party  and  the  Crown  prevented  his  carrying  out,  is 
kno\vn  only  to  the  Master  he  sought  so  faithfully  to  serve. 

The  fierce  efforts  of  Cardinal  Pole  and  other  conspirators  to 
bring  about  war  against  Henry  had  one  effect  which  cannot  be 
sufficiently  deplored.  The  coast  had  been  left  so  unprotected 
that  French  and  Spanish  vessels  ran  into  the  harbours  and 
fought  there,  to  the  great  danger  of  the  towns  at  hand  :  piracy, 
also,  was  rife.  The  navy  existed  only  in  name.  To  provide 
defences  and  ships,  the  abbey  lands  were  gladly  utilized,  and 
sold  at  low  prices,  and  thus  the  means  by  which  the  Reformers 
hoped  to  provide  schools  and  other  aids  for  the  people  were 
sunk  and  lost. 

A  bright  gleam  of  hope  for  the  country,  now,  however,  shone 
out,  only  to  be  presently  in  part  eclipsed.  On  the  1 2th  October 
Queen  Jane  gave  birth  to  a  son,  and  thus  the  Crown  had,  at 
last,  an  heir  of  unquestioned  legitimacy.  His  birth  was  a  trans- 
ition from  universal  anxiety  to  unbounded  rejoicing,  for  the 
Old  Party  could  not  now  hope  to  begin  a  'civil  war  at  Henry's 
death,  and  the  crowd  of  pretenders  were  made  powerless.  The 
confident  assertion  that  the  king  was  without  a  son  as  a  curse 
from  God  for  his  treatment  of  the  Pope  and  the  Church,  was, 
moreover,  silenced.      "There    is    no    less    rejoicing,"   wrote 

'  Hook's  Eccles.   Biog.,  iv.  z^\. 


A.o.  1537.]        Fifteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-seven^  309 

Latimer,  "  for  the  birth  of  our  prince,  whom  we  hungered  for 
so  long,  than  there  was,  I  trow,  among  the  neighbours,  at  the 
birth  of  John  the  Baptist." 

But  the  joy  was  soon  to  be  dashed  with  sorrow,  for  eleven 
days  after  her  son  was  bom  the  queen  lay  dead.  It  was  per- 
haps well  for  her  that  she  thus  escaped  the  risk  of  outliving 
Henry's  regard,  but  for  the  time  it  was  a  great  calamity  to  the 
nation.  The  strictest  precautions  were  taken  to  guard  the 
baby's  life ;  his  food  was  always  tasted  for  fear  of  poison ;  his 
room  was  shut  ofF  from  all  approach,  except  by  those  specially 
permitted,  and  a  minute  watchfulness  kept  up  continually,  as  if 
it  were  only  thus  that  he  could  be  kept  from  following  his 
mother  to  the  grave. 

Henry  professed  great  grief  at  her  death,  but  its  depth  may 
be  measured  by  the  fact  that  he  wrote  on  the  very  day  she 
expired  to  his  ambassadors,  Gardiner,  in  France,  and  Howard, 
in  Germany,  to  seek  another  wife  for  him ;  and  forthwith  in- 
quiries were  set  afoot  at  every  leading  court  of  Europe.  Henry 
in  fact  had  no  heart,  and  his  mock  sensibility  at  any  time  was 
at  best  like  the  skin  of  soil  sometimes  found  over  icebergs,  in  the 
frozen  north.  In  a  few  weeks  he  had  not  only  calmed  down,  but 
was  busy  with  negotiations  for  a  fourth  wife. 

Latimer  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  popularity,  and  his 
name  was  in  every  one's  mouth.  In  the  autumn  he  had  been 
in  his  diocese  trying  to  stir  up  the  clergy  by  vigorous  injunctions, 
for  the  Italian  cardinal  who  had  held  the  see  before  had  left 
them  to  themselves.  Many  had  no  New  Testaments,  others 
had  no  Bible ;  processions  took  the  place  of  sermons,  and  com- 
municants did  not  know  even  the  Lord's  Prayer  in  English. 
The  clergy  were  now  required  to  get  a  Latin  and  English 
Testament,  and  read  a  chapter  a  day  at  least,  and  to  get  also  a 
copy  of  the  Bishops'  Book,  which  is  mentioned  by  its  other  name, 
"The  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man."  No  monks  or  friars 
were  to  be  allowed  to  preach  in  the  churches. 

But  the  eager,  earnest  bishop,  was  also  often  in  London 


310  The  English  Reformation.  [a.b.  1537. 

preaching.  We  get  glimpses  this  year  of  him  and  Dr.  Barnes,  now 
less  rash  than  of  old,  and  Dr.  Crome,  and  Taylor,  Rector  of  St. 
Peter's,  Comhill,  busy  spreading  the  truth  from  the  pulpit,  and 
otherwise,  and  greatly  in  favour  among  the  people.  The  tide  of 
reformation  was  rising  in  London,  but  it  was  now  for  a  time 
to  be  checked,  so  far  as  the  Old  Party  and  Henry  could  hinder 
it.  The  Bishops'  Book  and  the  Ten  Articles  represent  the 
limits  it  reached  while  the  king  lived.  The  progress  made  in 
the  last  few  years  had  been  immense. 

It  was  only  four  years  since  Latimer's  visit  to  Bristol  had 
raised  fierce  religious  tumults,  and  drawn  on  him  a  prohibition 
from  preaching  in  the  diocese  without  the  bishop's  license. 
Even  then  his  preaching  had  drawn  such  crowds  both  in  Bristol 
and  London  that  the  pews  broke  down,  and  he  was  still  as 
popular,  and  inveighed  as  earnestly  as  ever  against  the  idols, 
impostures,  and  darkness,  so  thick  around.  The  Romish  clergy 
were  still  as  fierce  as  ever  against  him.  The  Church,  in  all  its 
orders,  was  moved  to  meet  him  at  his  coming  wherever  he 
appeared.  "  Had  he  not  attacked  pilgrimages,  and  much  else, 
and  did  not  Christ  say  that  if  any  one  left  father  or  mother  or 
brethren  for  His  sake  he  would  get  a  hundred-fold  more  even 
here,  and  did  not  this  clearly  apply  to  the  man  who  left  home 
to  visit  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  or  St.  Anne  of  the  Wood, 
now,  alas,  well-nigh  ruined  by  last  year's  visitation  ?"  But  they 
could  do  nothing  now.  Then,  they  brought  him  into  imminent 
danger  of  his  life ;  now,  men  were  no  longer  burned  for  speak- 
ing against  the  Pope,  or  for  reading  the  Scriptures  in  English ; 
image-worship  had  received  great  discouragement,  even  purga- 
tory was  left  an  open  question,  and  Latimer,  the  most  hated  of 
the  Reformers,  no  longer  hunted  for  heresy,  was  high  in  office 
in  the  Church,  and  a  special  favourite  of  the  king. 

The  confiscation  of  the  lands  and  property  of  the  monasteries 
went  on  through  1537,  a  second  visitation  being  ordered. 
Spoliation,  even  to  the  destruction  of  the  buildings  themselves, 
was  unfortunately  the  rule,  but  the  spirit  kindled  by  the  risings 


A.D.  1537]        Fifteen  Hundred  and  Thirty-seven.  3 1 1 

in  the  north  which  the  monks  had  incited,  left  no  pity  in 
Government  for  their  fate.  Even  Stokesley,  fiercely  Romish  as 
he  was,  declared  that  the  destruction  of  all  the  abbeys  and 
monasteries  was  inevitable  from  their  corruption,  and  this  not 
in  England  alone  but,  sooner  or  later,  throughout  Christendom, 
The  iron  hand  of  the  king  was  closing  on  one  after  another 
throughout  the  year,  but  the  great  abbeys  still  held  out.  Once 
more,  however,  Englishmen  saw  the  strange  sight  of  an  abbot 
hung  up  like  a  common  man.  Robert  Hobbes,  Abbot  of 
Woburn,  had,  in  a  moment  of  weakness  as  he  thought  it, 
accepted  the  Oath  of  Supremacy  in  1536,  and  was  dying  of  a 
broken  heart  at  his  fancied  sin.  Some,  words,  innocent  enough 
at  other  times,  but  judged  harshly  under  the  remembrance  of 
the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  were  reported  against  him  by  some  of 
his  monks,  now  eager  to  get  away  from  the  restraints  of  their 
conventual  life ;  and  erelong  he  was  carried  off  to  London  to 
choose  between  life  and  death.  But  he  stood  true  to  his  con- 
science, and  died  like  a  man  for  it  at  Tyburn. 

One  sign  of  the  times  as  the  year  closed  was  very  significant. 
A'Becket  had  been  the  greatest  English  saint,  and  the  pilgrims 
to  his  shrine  were  countless.  But  Parliament  now  forbade  his 
festival  day  to  be  any  longer  kept,  including  it  with  a  number 
of  others.  No  bells  were  to  be  rung,  the  churches  were  to  be 
left  unadorned,  nor  were  there  to  be  any  processions,  or  other 
customs  as  heretofore.  The  eve  of  the  day  had  till  now  been 
kept  as  a  fast,  but  Cranmer  this  year,  taking  no  notice  of  it,  ate 
flesh  and  supped  with  his  family  in  his  parlour.  Old  things 
were  passing  away ;  the  question  was,  what  the  new  would  be 
like  that  were  slowly  rising  out  of  the  chaos  of  that  which  had 
perished. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE  STRUGGLE  AGAINST  REFORM. 


THE  year  1538  opened  with  a  web  of  negotiations  for  a 
fourth  wife  to  Henry  ;  the  Romish  party  trying  hard  to 
get  a  match  made  which  would  turn  Henry  against  the  Refor- 
mation ;  the  Reformers,  under  Cromwell's  lead,  still  hoping  for 
one  that  would  link  English  to  German  Protestantism.  But  the 
king  was  now  for  the  time  disposed  to  make  a  new  league 
with  Charles,  and  felt  more  coldly  to  the  New  Learning  than 
formerly. 

Meanwhile  the  destruction  of  the  monasteries  and  abbeys 
went  on.  They  stood  roofless  and  ruined,  everywhere  :  the 
money  raised  for  their  "  stock  and  store,  household  stuff  and 
church  ornaments,  plate,  lead  from  the  roofs,  and  bells,"  going 
first  to  pay  any  debts  of  the  establishments,  and  then  to  the 
king.  Here  and  there  voices  were  being  raised  in  behalf  of 
exceptional  cases  of  honest  worth,  amidst  the  prevailing  cor- 
ruption. The  six  commissioners  wrote  to  Cromwell  that  "the 
abbess  of  Pollesworth  nunnery  in  Warwickshire,  is  a  very  sad, 
discreet,  and  religious  woman  of  sixty,  who  had  been  abbess 
twenty-seven  years  and  had  under  her  twelve  virtuous  and 
religious  nuns,  none  of  whom  would  leave  their  habit  and 
religion."  They  pray  that  the  house  may  stand,  "  for  the  town 
has  only  forty-four  tenements,  and  never  a  plough  but  one — 
nearly   all   living   by  the   nunnery,   in   which   from  thirty   to 


A.D.  1538.]  Tlie  Struggle  against  Reform.  3 1 3 

forty  or  more  children  of  gentlemen  are  right  virtuously 
brought  up." 

Latimer  writes  on  behalf  of  the  Prior  of  Malvern,  who  was 
not  in  his  diocese,  but  was  "  an  honest  man,"  "  that  his  priory 
may  stand  " — "  not  in  mockery,  God  forbid  " — but  any  other 
way,  as  the  king  may  think  fit,  so  as  to  maintain  preaching, 
teaching,  studying,  with  prayer,  and  "good  housekeeping,  to 
which  the  prior  is  much  given,  and  is  much  commended  in 
those  parts.  He  is  old  and  feedeth  many,  for  the  county  is 
poor  and  full  of  penury,  and,  alas  1  my  good  lord,  shall  we  not 
see  two  or  three  in  every  shire  changed  to  such  remedy  ? "  But 
the  insatiable  gulf  of  the  public  and  personal  expenses  of  the 
king,  and  the  remorseless  greed  of  the  courtiers,  were  fatal  to 
all  pity  or  generous  policy. 

The  virtues  of  some  of  the  monks  and  the  local  benefits  the 
abbeys  and  monasteries  afforded  had  made  the  report  of  the 
visitors  fall  ineffectual  on  the  masses.  A  surer  way  to  rouse 
dislike  was  now  taken  by  a  resolute  exposure  of  the  impostures 
practised  by  the  bulk  of  them  at  the  popular  expense.  The 
honest  love  of  truth  native  to  Englishmen  had  already,  in  some 
cases,  risen  against  the  deceptions  detected  in  some  parts.  So 
far  back  as  1532  four  Suffolk  lads,  by  the  light  of  a  bright 
February,  moon,  had  carried  off  the  '•  idol "  at  Doverscourt,  and 
had  burned  it  in  the  fields :  a  deed  for  which  three  of  them 
were  swinging  in  chains,  on  the  spot,  within  six  months — the 
fourth,  only,  managing  to  escape.  But  times  were  now  changed, 
and  the  practical  idolatry  then  high  in  honour  had  been  blown 
upon  by  the  Revolution.  The  brave  •  hearts  that  had  thus  led 
the  way  had  indeed  perished,  but  they  had  set  an  example 
which  was  now  to  overthrow  the  worship  of  figures  of  wood  or 
stone,  through  all  England.  The  reports  of  the  visitors  had 
already  discredited  many  of  the  famous  relics  and  wonder- 
working images  hitherto  so  sacred.  The  king  had  signified  his 
pleasure  for  the  "  removing  of  idolatrous  images,  wherewith  the 
country  abounds,"  and  his  officials  carried  out  his  command 


3 14  The  English  Reformation,  [ad.  1533. 

zealously.  In  Wales  an  image  of  the  Virgin  was  in  great  honour. 
It  had  been  thrice  set  up  at  another  place,  but  had  come  back, 
each  time,  of  its  own  accord.  A  taper  in  its  hand  had  burned 
nine  years,  without  wasting  or  going  out,  till,  at  last,  on  some 
one  forswearing  himself  before  it,  it  went  out  at  once.  The 
image  was  now  taken  down  :  the  sacred  taper  which  had  been 
cased  in  wood,  was  uncovered  and  found  to  burn  Hke  others. 
At  Merston  an  image  stood  blessing  a  boat,  in  which  it  was 
reported  to  have  conveyed  the  devil,  it  is  not  said  whither,  or 
whence.  It  was  much  frequented  for  benefit  from  the  ague. 
This,  also,  was  publicly  disgraced.  At  Winchester,  a  shrine, 
adorned  with  silver  to  the  value  of  nearly  2,000  marks,  equal 
now  to  ^^13,000,  was  destroyed,  "the  mayor  and  others  who 
went  with  the  visitors  praising  and  lauding  God  for  what  had 
been  done  and  was  doing ;  most  of  the  plate,  the  vestments, 
copes,  and  hangings,  being  reserved  to  the  use  of  the  king's 
majesty."  The  image  of  "  Our  Lady  of  Caversham,  whereto 
was  great  pilgrimage,"  was  pulled  down,  with  the  structure  on 
which  it  stood  :  the  *'  lights,  shrouds,  crutches,  and  images  of 
wax  hanging  about  the  chapel  destroyed,  and  the  chapel  itself 
defaced,  so  thoroughly  that  there  would  be  no  farther  resort 
to  it.  The  principal  relic  of  idolatry  in  the  realm  had  been 
treasured  here  ;  an  angel  with  one  wing,  that  brought  to  Cavers- 
ham the  spear-head  that  pierced  our  Saviour  on  the  cross.  It 
was  now  sent  off  to  London,  "  with  a  piece  of  the  halter  Nvith 
which  Judas  hanged  himself."  At  the  Grey  Friars,  Reading, 
a  collection  of  relics,  the  lists  of  which  would  fill  "  sheets  of 
paper;"  bits  of  the  arms  of  St.  Pancrates,  St.  Quentin,  St. 
David,  Mary  Salome,  and  St.  Edward  the  Martyr ;  a  bone  of 
Mary  Magdalene,  the  stole  of  St.  Philip,  and  such  like,  among 
them.  A  wonderful  phial  known  as  the  "  Blood  of  Hales  "  was 
taken  from  a  monastery  of  the  same  name,  in  Gloucestershire. 
It  was  reputed  to  be  the  very  blood  of  Christ,  shed  on  the  Cross, 
and  as  such  was  held  in  great  veneration.  No  one  in  a  state  of 
mortal  sin,  it  was  said,  could  behold  it,  but  it  made  itself  visible 


AD.  1538 ]  The  Struggle  against  Reform.  3 1 5 

to  him  when,  by  his  offerings  and  penitence,  he  had  obtained 
absolution.  This  it  was  now  found,  however,  was  done  by  the 
phial  having  a  dark  and  a  clear  side,  which  were  turned  to  suit 
the  case,  while  the  contents,  on  its  being  opened  before  a  great 
multitude,  were  found  not  to  be  blood  at  all,  but  some  honey 
coloured  with  saffron.  It  justifies,  in  some  measure,  the 
destruction  of  shrines  we  now  lament,  to  find  the  Abbot  of 
Hales,  himself,  writing  afterwards  for  permission  to  take  down 
every  "  stick  and  stone  "  of  the  place  where  it  had  stood,  "  that 
no  manner  of  token  or  remembrance  of  that  forged  relic  shall 
remain.'"  From  Maiden  Bewdley  Priory  at  Bristol  was  sent  a 
bag  of  relics  the  names  given  to  which  are  startling  enough — 
God's  coat.  Our  Lady's  smock,  part  of  the  Last  Supper,  and 
part  of  the  rock  on  which  Christ  was  bom  at  Bethlehem. 

But  the  discovery  of  the  imposture  connected  with  the  rood, 
or  crucifix,  of  Boxley,  in  Kent,  created  perhaps  the  greatest  sen- 
sation. The  eyes  of  this  image,  on  fitting  occasions,  moved  as 
if  it  were  alive;  its  body  bowed,  its  forehead  frowned,  and  it 
dropped  its  lower  lip,  as  if  to  speak.  Such  proofs  of  miraculous 
power  made  the  property  very  valuable  to  the  monks,  by  attract- 
ing countless  offerings.  Unfortunately  for  them,  when  examined, 
it  was  found  that  all  the  motions  were  made  by  contrivances  at 
the  back,  and  the  detected  deceit  was  exposed  in  the  market- 
place at  Maidstone,  where  it  roused  "  wondrous  detestation  and 
hatred  "  in  the  people,  when  they  saw  how  they  had  been  tricked. 
But  its  usefulness  was  not  allowed  to  end  with  Maidstone :  it 
was  sent  to  London,  and  raised  on  a  platform  beside  the  pulpit 
at  Paul's  Cross,  where  it  was  put  through  its  performances,  and 
made  the  subject  of  a  sermon  by  Hilsey  of  Rochester,  after 
which  it  was  let  down  among  the  crowd,  who  forthwith  tore  it 
to  pieces.  Such  exposures  were  death-blows  to  the  system  that 
had  made  them  possible. 

The  fate  of  another  image,  of  great  fame,  which  had  been 

^  Quoted  from  MS.  in  Froude,  iii.  loi. 


3i6  Tlie  Eftglish  Reformation.  [a.d.  1538. 

sent  to  London  from  Wales,  is  strangely  linked  with  a  charac- 
teristic incident  of  the  times.  This  idol  was  known  by  the 
name  of  Darvellgadern,  and  was  in  such  repute  that  500  or  600 
pilgrims  visited  it  in  a  day.  Some  brought  money,  others  cattle 
or  horses,  as  offerings  to  the  priests,  for  such  was  the  confidence 
of  the  ignorant  peasantry  in  its  powers,  that  it  was  believed  it 
could  fetch  any  one  that  offered  to  it  even  out  of  hell  itself.^ 

It  happened  that  at  this  time  a  friar  named  Forrest  had  been 
sentenced  to  be  burned  for  denying  the  king's  supremacy, 
nothing  that  Cranmer  or  Latimer  could  do  prevailing  per- 
manently with  him  to  recede  from  his  opinion.  To  Latimer's 
distress,  Cromwell  selected  him  to  preach  the  usual  sermon  at 
the  execution,  and  would  not  accept  his  earnest  request  to  find 
some  one  in  his  place.  Thus  forced  to  the  hateful  office,  he  did 
what  he  could  to  move  the  unhappy  friar.  He  had  his  pulpit 
set  up  near  the  stake,  in  the  hope  that  his  words  might,  even  at 
the  last,  win  him  over,  and  thus  save  him  from  death.  It  was 
a  strange  and  horrible  sight,  worthy  of  the  reign  in  which  it 
took  place.  Forrest  was  hung  up  alive  by  the  middle  and  arm- 
pits from  a  gallows,  in  Smithfield,  and  when  he  utterly  refused 
to  recant  and  gloried  in  dying  for  the  faith  in  which  he  had 
grown  up,  a  fire  was  kindled  below  him,  and  on  the  top  of  it 
was  thrown  the  Welsh  idol,  the  poor  man  being  burned  slowly 
to  death.2 

The  newly-published  Bibles  were,  meanwhile,  slowly  leading 
the  way  to  a  nobler  charity  which  would  gradually  make  scenes 
like  this  impossible.  They  were  now  exposed  for  public  sale, 
and  were  in  such  demand  that  two  years  later  they  had  to  be 
reprinted.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  to  possess  them 
is  hard  to  be  realized  now,  when  the  Bible  is  in  the  hands  of  all, 
as  the  cheapest  of  books.  In  those  days,  over  all  England,  every 
one  who  could  bought  a  copy,  or  went  to  where  a  public  copy 
was  chained  in  the  parish  church  to  read,  or  hear  it  read.     The 


Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  190.        ^  May  22,  1538. 


A.D.  1538]  The  Struggle  against  Reform,  317 

old  often  learned  their  letters  to  be  able  to  spell  it  out,  and  even 
the  young  caught  the  excitement.  Not  only  in  the  Church,  but 
in  the  tavern  and  the  ale-house  it  was  the  one  subject  on  all 
tongues.  Strype  reports  an  old  man's  recollections  of  the  time, 
which  bring  it  vividly  before  us.  Some  poor  men  of  Chelmsford, 
in  Essex,  where  the  narrator's  father  lived,  had  bought  a  New 
Testament,  and  on  Sundays  sat  reading  it  during  the  intervals 
of  worship,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  church,  many  flocking  round 
to  hear  him  as  he  did  so,  and  among  others,  he  who  told  the 
story — then  a  lad  of  about  fifteen.  His  father,  however,  would 
not  allow  him  to  hear  it,  and  once  and  again  fetched  him  away. 
But  the  lad  would  not  be  kept  from  it,  and  having  taught  him- 
self to  read,  he  and  his  father's  apprentice  joined  funds  and 
bought  a  New  Testament  between  them,  hiding  it  under  the 
bed-straw,  and  reading  it  when  they  had  the  chance.^ 

In  May,  1538,  Fox,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  died;  a  calamity 
sad  enough  in  itself  to  the  Reformers,  but  doubly  so  from 
Bonner,  at  this  time  a  zealous  Reformer,  being  put  in  his  place 
— a  man  destined  to  play  an  evil  part  in  coming  days.  His 
audacity  had  commended  him  to  Henry  for  various  political 
missions,  when  it  was  serviceable,  and  he  had  been  so  eager  in 
carrying  out  the  views  of  Cranmer  and  Cromwell  that  he  com- 
pletely hoodwinked  them. 

In  September  fresh  injunctions  were  issued  to  the  clergy  by 
Cromwell  to  secure  the  ground  thus  far  gained.  Obedience  to 
former  injunctions  was  imperatively  ordered.  The  Creed,  the 
Ten  Commandments,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  were  to  be  taught 
the  people  in  English  by  the  clergy ;  they  were  to  preach  at 
least  once  a  quarter ;  to  teach  men  not  to  trust  in  other  men's 
works,  or  in  pilgrimages,  or  relics,  or  in  saying  over  beads. 
Images  abused  by  pilgrimages,  or  by  offerings  made  to  them, 
were  to  be  taken  down ;  no  candles  were  to  be  lighted  before 
any  image,  but  only  before  the  cross,  the  sacrament,  and  "  the 

^  Strype's  Cranmer,  i.  142. 


3i8  The  English  Reformation.  [A-n.  1538. 

sepulchre,"  and  no  one  was  to  hinder  the  free  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  though  care  was  to  be  taken  that  no  unseemly  disputes 
respecting  them  should  be  heard  either  in  churches  or  in  less 
worthy  places. 

To  promote  morality  it  was  required  that  the  banns  of  mar- 
riage be  regularly  published,  and  that  all  baptisms,  marriages, 
and  deaths  should  be  registered.  But  even  so  sensible  an  order 
was  turned  to  evil  by  the  clergy.  They  "  blow  abroad,"  says 
Cromwell,  "that  the  king  intends  to  tax  baptisms."  Opposition 
was  still  bold.  Many  "  hummed  and  hawed  "  in  reading  the 
injunctions,  so  that  few  could  understand,  and  the  parishioners 
were  told  to  stick  to  the  old  way  as  the  best. 

The  destruction  of  the  monasteries  had  involved  that  of  many 
of  the  shrines  connected  with  them,  but  Cromwell,  in  August, 
hastened  the  work  of  destruction  by  an  order  to  the  magistrates 
and  sheriffs  of  each  county,  to  go  to  the  cathedrals,  churches, 
or  chapels,  having  shrines,  "  at  which  prayers  were  offered  that 
were  due  to  God  only,  ignorant  people  thus  falling  into  great 
error  and  idolatry,"  and  to  level  them  to  the  ground.  The  relics, 
and  reliquaries,*  the  gold,  silver,  or  jewels,  were  to  be  sent  to 
the  king.''  Times  had  indeed  changed,  for  the  bones  to  be  thus 
roughly  unhoused  had  been  worshipped  for  centuries  as  the 
memorials  of  saints  so  dear  to  God  that  their  least  remains  were 
watched  from  heaven  as  sacred,  wrought  wondrous  miracles,  and 
diffused  a  sweet  smell  around  them.  But  imposture  had  long 
made  a  trade  in  the  noblest  feelings  of  our  nature,  and  it  was 
well  that  the  whole  baleful  traffic  in  holy  fraud  should  be  stopped 
for  ever.  Forthwith,  all  over  the  land,  the  shrines  were  levelled 
so  completely  that,  by  the  close  of  the  year,  every  one  of  them 
had  utterly  disappeared. 

The  injunctions  had  already  forbidden  honours  to  be  paid  any 
longer  at  Becket's  shrine  at  Canterbury — his  reputation  as  a 
martyr  to  popular  liberty  making  him  peculiarly  odious  to  a  man 

'  The  box  or  casquet  for  relics.         *  Strype's  Cranraer,  i.  211. 


AJ>.  IS38.]  The  Struggle  against  Reform.  319 

like  Henry.  Now,  however,  every  memorial  of  him  was  to  be 
destroyed.  In  his  person  the  Church  had  tried  to  dominate  the 
State  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  before,  and  the  victory  of  the 
State  in  the  final  conflict  just  ending  was  to  be  signalized  by  his 
contemptuous  degradation.  What  had  claimed  to  be  the  blood 
of  the  martyr,  and  had  been  exhibited  for  the  homage  of  count- 
less pilgrims  for  generations,  was  found,  like  the  blood  of  Hales, 
to  be  an  imposition,  and  the  discovery  stimulated  the  iconoclasts. 
His  coffin  was  "  of  inestimable  price,  all  of  pure  gold,  most 
thickly  studded  with  beautiful  jewels  and  pearls."'  The  shrine 
was  of  stone  for  about  six  feet,  and  above  that  of  wood,  con- 
taining the  martyr's  bones  and  skull  in  an  iron  chest.  These 
were  forthwith  burned,  that  they  might  not  any  longer  be  used 
for  superstitious  purposes.  The  gold  and  precious  stones  filled 
two  great  chests,  each  of  which  required  six  or  seven  strong 
men  to  lift  it.^  In  keeping  with  the  imposture  which  elsewhere, 
in  different  places,  exhibited  as  the  blood  of  Christ,  coloured 
honey,  at  Hales ;  a  piece  of  red  silk,  at  another  place ;  and 
some  oil  coloured  with  dragon's  blood,  at  a  third ;  it  was  found 
that,  besides  the  head  of  Becket  in  the  iron  chest,  another  was 
shown  to  the  pilgrims.'  A  proclamation  was  presently  issued, 
that  from  henceforth  he  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  saint,  but  as 
a  traitor,  and  that  his  images  and  pictures  through  the  whole 
realm  should  be  destroyed  in  all  the  windows  and  on  all  the  walls 
of  churches,  chapels,  and  other  places,  his  name  erased  from  all 
service-books,  and  his  festival  day  no  longer  observed.* 

The  long-threatened  thunders  of  the  Pope  burst  forth  at  last 
on  the  news  of  this  sacrilege.  The  Emperor  had  at  once 
broken  off  any  approach  to  a  marriage  alliance  with  so  audacious 
a  heretic  as  Henry,  and  since  France  and  Spain  were  at  peace, 

>  Giustiniani's  Despatches,  i.  84.         *  Stowe's  Annals,  p.  575. 
»  Cranmer  to  Cromwell.     Misc.  Letters  temp.  Henry  VIJI.,  3rd  Series, 
vol.  ix.     Date,  August  i8ih,  1538. 

♦  Burnet  Kef.  iii.,  part  il     Appendix  B  iii.,  pp.  206,  207. 

15 


320  The  English  Reformation,  [ad.  1538. 

and  all  Europe  was  outraged  at  the  burning  of  the  bones  of  one 
who  was  famous  everywhere  as  a  saint,  it  seemed  a  fitting 
moment  to  launch  the  long-prepared  Bull  of  Deposition. 
Henry  and  his  accomplices  were  required  to  appear  at  Rome 
and  answer  for  their  conduct ;  otherwise,  the  Pope  deprived  him 
of  his  crown  ;  them  of  their  estates  ;  and  all  of  Christian  burial. 
Henry's  subjects  were  absolved  from  all  oaths  and  obligations  to 
him  :  he  was  declared  infamous  :  all  nobles  and  others  in  his 
dominions  were  required  to  rise  against  him,  and  all  kings  were 
ordered,  by  virtue  of  the  obedience  they  owed  the  Holy  See, 
to  make  war  against  him,  and  to  make  slaves  of  such  of  his 
subjects  as  they  could  seize.  Was  the  Pope  wrong  in  uttering 
such  a  document  ?  If  not,  it  must  be  right  to  look  on  Victoria 
now  in  the  same  light,  and  to  visit  her  with  the  same  curses. 

But  the  time  was  past  when  Roman  bulls  could  shake  king- 
doms, and  the  only  direct  action  taken  by  Henry,  in  answer  to 
all  this  violence,  was  a  paper  signed  by  all  the  bishops,  including 
those  most  devoted  to  the  Pope,  repudiating  his  authority,  and 
denying  his  right  to  stir  up  war. 

The  negotiations  set  on  foot  by  Cranmer  and  Cromwell  for  a 
possible  alliance  of  the  English  and  German  Churches  to 
strengthen  the  common  cause  had  been  kept  up  through  the 
spring  and  summer,  and  a  deputation  of  German  Reformers  had 
even  been  in  London  from  May  to  August,  to  further  it  if 
possible.  Its  members  had,  however,  met  with  little  favour  from 
Henry,  who  found  them  indisposed  to  submit  to  his  imperious 
despotism  in  matters  of  faith. 

The  Old  Party  professed  themselves  outraged  at  the  very  pro- 
posal of  such  an  alliance.  That  the  primate  should  even  think 
of  official  relations  with  non-episcopal  Lutherans  was  in  their 
eyes  a  public  scandal.  The  Germans,  moreover,  were  not 
orthodox  on  the  Romish  doctrine  of  the  Mass,  of  which  Henry 
was  very  tenacious,  pluming  himself  on  his  fidelity  to  it.  Many 
English  Reformers,  also  were  less  prudent  than  zealous  in  their 
dislike  of  it,  and  other  Romish  doctrines.     They  were  accused 


AJD.  153a]  The  Struggle  against  Reform.  32 1 

of  calling  the  wafer  only  a  bit  of  bread  :  one  was  alleged  to  have 
said  that  he  would  as  soon  see  an  oyster-shell  above  the  priest's 
head  at  the  sacring  time,  as  the  wafer,  and  that,  if  a  knave 
priest  could  make  God,  he  would  hire  such  a  God-maker  by  the 
year,  and  give  him  twenty  pounds  to  make  fishes  and  fowls : 
another — that  it  was  as  lawful  to  baptize  a  child  in  a  tub  as  in 
a  church  font ;  that  our  Lady  could  do  no  more  with  Christ  than 
another  sinful  woman ;  that  holy  water  is  only  water  juggled. 
The  mass  was  still  sacred  to  the  bulk  of  Englishmen,  and  free 
speech,  though  it  could  not  be  repressed,  was  as  yet  permitted 
only  on  the  stronger  side.  Ballads  and  mystery  plays  ridiculed 
transubstantiation,  and  the  other  Romish  doctrines,  to  the 
intense  fury  of  the  Romanists.  Plain  words  cut  to  the  heart 
in  proportion  to  their  truth  and  aptness,  and  in  such  days 
conventional  phrases  are  apt  to  be  discarded.*  Men  who  had 
seen  neighbours  bearing  the  faggot ;  or  whipped  at  the  cart's 
tail ;  or  thrown  into  loathsome  dungeons ;  or  burning  at  the 
stake,  on  the  accusation  of  some  clerical  spy,  and  by  the  sen- 
tence of  clerical  judges,  could  ill  brook  the  reports  so  rife,  of 
the  lewdness,  the  ill-gotten  wealth,  the  hatred  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  shameless  impostures  of  the  priests,  or  think  reverently 


'  Mr.  Froude  and  Mr.  Green  quote  the  words  hocus  pocus  as  a  Pro- 
testant  corruption,  at  this  time,  of  the  words  of  consecration — Hoc  est  corf  us 
— "This  is  (my)  body."  But  they  were  already  the  conjuror's  jargon  of 
all  Europe,  and  cannot  be  ascribed  to  Protestants  of  any  period,  though 
it  is  possible  that  they  may  have  risen  in  the  Romish  Middle  Ages  from 
an  irreverent  satire  on  the  consecrating  words.  One  would  suppose,  how- 
ever, that,  even  if  they  had,  it  was  no  great  wonder,  when  the  priesthood, 
by  their  worthlessness,  had  brought  religion  itself  into  contempt  with  too 
many.  Yet  it  is  a  question  if  hocus  pocus  come  from  this  root  at  all. 
"Ochus  bochus"  was  the  gibberish  used  anciently  by  Italian  conjurors, 
and  since  the  words  used  to  be  spelt  ock^s  bock^  j,  or  ok^s  boks,  they  may 
very  possibly  have  risen  from  ochs — the  ox,  and  bock — the  goat,  which 
were  frequent  sacrifices,  and  as  such  had  incantations  uttered  over  them. 
Not  to  mention  other  fancied  derivations,  Huk  Puk  is  in  Polish — "  Look 
out ! "     Besides,  the  words  may  be  mere  sound  without  sen&e. 


322  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  153a 

of  the  doctrines,  in  themselves  so  open  to  attack,  with  which 
they  were  identified. 

But  the  Old  Party  were  far  from  willing  to  submit  quietly  to 
their  opponents,  and  the  return  of  Gardiner  in  October  from 
France,  where  he  had  been  ambassador  for  three  years,  gave 
them  the  advantage  of  a  leader.  Wily  and  plausible ;  willing  to 
go  to  any  lengths  to  gain  his  ends,  and  of  stubborn  tenacity  in 
pursuing  them,  he  was  far  more  than  a  match  for  the  weakness 
and  simplicity  of  Cranmer.  He  found  his  friends  shocked  by 
the  primate's  having  dreamed  of  relations  with  the  non-epis- 
copal Churches  of  Germany,  though  the  proposal  had  come  to 
nothing.  The  grand  points  in  debate  between  them  and  the 
Lutherans  had  been  communion  in  one  kind,  the  private  mass, 
and  the  celibacy  of  priests ;  to  the  Germans  the  central 
doctrines  of  Popery,  but  to  Gardiner's  party,  all  the  more  sacred 
on  that  ground.  Their  irritation  was  extreme,  but  unfortunately 
this  was  not  the  only  result.  The  very  discussion  had  roused 
Henry's  old  zeal  for  his  orthodoxy,  and  a  first  sign  of  this  was 
presently  seen  in  a  proclamation  against  married  clergy.  Many 
priests  had  ventured  to  take  wives  openly,  though  the  law  still 
forbade  them  doing  so,  and  Cranmer  had  been  privately 
married.  Henceforth,  all  who  had  openly  married  were  to  be 
deprived  of  ecclesiastical  office  and  reputed  laymen,  and  all 
who  should  hereafter  marry  were  to  be  fined  and  imprisoned  at 
the  royal  pleasure.^ 

But  such  a  bloodless  protest  against  the  New  Opinions  would 
not  satisfy  Gardiner  when  he  returned,  after  the  Germans  had 
left  England.  He  was  bent  on  retaining  everything  Popish 
except  the  Pope,  whom  Henry  had  forced  him  outwardly  to 
abandon.  The  old  usages  and  traditions,  he  maintained, 
"  were  not  to  be  broken  lightly,  and  some  in  no  wise,"  words 
which,  from  him,  meant  that  Henry  should  be  so  dexterously 
managed  that  Popery  should  be  preserved  intact. 

*  Stiype's  Cranmer,  bk.  i.  a  i8. 


A  J),  issai  The  Struggle  against  Reform.  323 

The  three  years  of  his  absence  had  seen  great  progress  made 
and  persecution  lulled.  But  the  struggle  against  the  Reformers 
was  now  to  recommence  at  once,  as  the  passion  of  his  life. 
An  acute  diplomatist,  he  soon  wound  his  toils  round  the  king. 
The  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  a  Protestant,  on  the  departure  of  the 
German  deputation,  had  written  Henry  urging  him  to  repress 
and  extirpate  the  Anabaptist  heresy  in  England,  lest  it  should 
endanger  society  and  the  throne,  as  it  had  done  at  Munster. 
Gardiner  eagerly  caught  at  the  chance  which  such  an  opening 
offered,  and  represented  to  the  king  that  strictness  against 
sacramentaries  would  vindicate  his  orthodoxy  to  France  and 
the  emperor,  while  it  was  clear  that  it  would  not  turn  the 
German  Protestants  against  him. 

The  first  sufferers  were  of  the  proscribed  sect — refugees  from 
Germany,  where,  as  in  all  Europe,  their  recent  history  made 
them  the  objects  of  suspicion  and  hatred.  A  commission  was 
appointed  in  October,  1538,  to  seek  them  out,  and  the  result 
was  that  four  bore  faggots  at  St.  Paul's,  and  a  man  and  a 
woman  were  burned  at  Smithfield.  It  is  pitiful  to  think  that 
Cranmer  sat  on  the  bench  with  Bonner  and  Stokesley  to  con- 
demn them.  So  little  had  even  the  gentlest  of  the  Reformers 
as  yet  risen  above  the  hateful  principles  in  which  Rome  had 
trained  Christendom. 

But  this  was  only  a  beginning.  The  plot  grew  apace.  Gar- 
diner, Stokesley,  Tunstal,  and  Sampson  of  Chichester  had 
formed  an  alliance  to  maintain  the  old  religion,  and  to  oppose 
all  innovation.^  Henry's  prejudices  were  skilfully  awakened, 
day  by  day,  till  Gardiner  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  order  that 
no  religious  books  should  be  translated  or  circulated  without 
royal  permission,  and  in  securing  a  royal  injunction  in  favour  of 
the  use  of  holy  water,  processions,  and  crawling  to  the  cross, 
and  to  prohibit  discussions  about  the  mass.  But  this  was 
not  enough.     An  opportunity  soon   after  offering  of  striking 

*  Strjrpe's  Eccles.  Mem.,  i.  p.  50a 


324  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1538. 

home  against  a  well-known  Reformer,  Gardiner  seized  it  at 
once. 

John  Nicolson,  a  Norfolk  man,  had  studied  at  Cambridge  in 
Bilney's  days,  and,  having  become  one  of  his  converts,  set  him- 
self to  translate  various  Lutheran  books  into  English.  For  this 
he  had  had  to  flee  to  Antwerp,  to  Tyndale  and  Frith,  and  there 
he  stayed,  as  chaplain  to  the  English  factory,  for  a  year  and 
a-half,  till,  on  Sir  Thomas  More's  warrant,  he  was  carried  back 
to  England,  in  1532,  to  answer  charges  of  heresy.  Brought  up 
before  Warham,  forty-five  articles  were  given  him  for  his 
answers,  which  fill  forty-three  large  pages,  closely  printed,  in 
Foxe,  and  embrace  the  whole  breadth  of  Romish  theology. 
Warham's  death,  however,  and  the  rise  of  Queen  Anne  Boleyn, 
with  Cranmer  for  primate,  soon  after  set  him  free. 

From  this  time  he  lived  in  London  as  a  teacher  of  Greek  and 
Latin,  under  the  name  of  Lambert,  to  escape  molestation  from 
the  priests.  In  1538,  happening  to  hear  Dr.  Taylor,  afterwards 
Protestant  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  preach  on  the  mass,  Lambert 
after  the  sermon  went  to  him,  and  modestly  broached  some 
difficulties  on  which  he  wished  explanation.  Being  asked  to  put 
them  in  writing,  he  did  so.  Unfortunately,  Taylor,  in  preparing 
to  answer,  asked  the  help,  among  others,  of  Dr.  Barnes,  now,  as 
always,  a  hot,  ill-balanced  man,  who  persuaded  him  to  lay  them 
officially  before  Cranmer,  a  course  which,  in  effect,  imposed  on 
the  primate  the  necessity  of  official  action.  Brought  before 
him,  Lambert  urged  his  objections  to  the  Romish  doctrine, 
and,  on  being  pressed  to  modify  them,  appealed,  in  an  evil 
hour,  to  Henry  himself. 

Gardiner  at  once  saw  the  opportunity  for  committing  the  king 
to  a  violent  course,  which  might,  moreover,  entangle  Cranmer 
as  well,  and  forthwith  pressed  the  desirableness  of  the  appeal 
being  heard,  that  the  royal  orthodoxy  might  be  clearly  vindi- 
cated. Vain  of  his  theology,  Henry  at  once  assented,  and  a  day 
was  appointed  on  which  the  case  should  be  tried  in  Westminster 
Hall,  writs  being  forthwith  sent  out,  commanding  all  the  bishops 


A.D.  1538]  TJie  Struggle  against  Reform.  325 

and  nobility  to  be  present,  to  support  the  king  in  his  public 
action,  as  supreme  head  of  the  Church. 

When  the  day  arrived,  the  prisoner  found  himself  in  presence 
of  Henry,  with  the  bishops  on  his  right,  the  nobles  and  justices, 
in  "  their  order,"  on  his  left,  and  a  body  of  lawyers,  in  purple, 
behind.  An  armed  guard  stood  round  him,  and  another,  very 
numerous,  and  all  in  white,  was  ranged  behind  the  king.  After 
a  long  oration  from  the  Bishop  of  Chichester,  the  unhappy  man 
was  summoned  by  the  king  to  answer  for  himself,  but  only  to 
be  bullied  and  browbeaten,  till  he  was  quite  confused.  Cranmer 
was  then  commanded  to  prove  him  wrong,  but  argued  so  gently, 
calling  the  accused  man  "Brother  Lambert,"  that  Gardiner,  after 
a  time,  interrupted  him,  and  though  sixth  in  the  order  of  dis- 
putants, began  before  the  primate  had  ended.  His  argument 
for  the  possible  presence  of  the  body  of  Christ  in  two  places  a: 
once — in  heaven  and  in  the  bread  of  the  Eucharist — deserves 
the  attention  of  Anglo-Romanists  now.  "  Did  not  St.  Paul 
say,"  he  asked,  "  *  Have  I  not  seen  Christ  ? '  Did  not  this  prove 
that  Christ  was  *  corporally  present '  in  heaven  and  in  Paul's 
presence  at  the  same  moment  ?  "  Tunstal,  of  Durham,  next 
tried  his  skill,  but  Lambert  was  more  than  a  match  for  him,  as 
he  had  been  for  Cranmer  and  Gardiner,  but  he  was  stopped  in 
his  reply  by  taunts  and  clamour.  It  was  reserved  for  Stokesley, 
who  boasted  of  having  burned  fifty  heretics,  but  now,  himself, 
had  he  known  it,  had  the  shadow  of  death  over  him,  to  demon- 
strate the  truth  of  the  orthodox  doctrine  that  one  substance 
might  be  changed  into  another,  as  the  bread  was  held  to  be 
changed  into  Christ's  body.  He  did  this  by  adducing  the  case 
of  steam  from  boiling  water,  which,  said  he,  "  passes  into  the 
substance  of  air."  This  was  reckoned  an  almost  inspired  idea, 
and  Lambert  was  howled  down  by  king  and  bishops  alike,  when 
he  shrewdly  told  them  that  the  water  remained  itself,  in  the  air, 
after  all. 

Ten  bishops  in  all  were  successively  let  loose  on  the  defence- 
less man,  and  five  hours  spent  in  the  despicable  dispute,  till 


326 


The  English  Reformation. 


[a.d.  1538. 


Lambert  gave  up  the  task  of  replying,  since  it  was  useless.  At 
last  the  farce  was  ended,  and  the  question  asked  by  Henry 
whether  he  was  convinced,  and  would  he  live  or  die  ?  "I 
commend  my  soul  to  God,"  replied  the  martyr,  "  but  my  body 
I  submit  to  your  clemency."  "  Then  you  must  die,"  answered 
Henry,  "  for  I  will  not  be  the  patron  of  heretics — Cromwell, 
read  the  sentence  of  condemnation."  A  few  days  after  he  was 
burned  at  Smithfield,  the  last  words  he  uttered  being  a  cry  to 
the  people — "  None  but  Christ,  none  but  Christ !  " 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

LIGHT  AND  DARKNESS 

THE  year  1539  opened  disastrously  for  the  Romanists. 
Pole's  book  attacking  Henry  had  been  published  in  the 
last  months  of  1538,  with  no  other  result  than  the  ruin  of  his 
family.  His  brothers,  Henry  Lord  Montacute,  and  Sir  Geoffrey, 
grandsons  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  were  arrested,  and  with  them 
the  Marquis  of  Exeter,  grandson  of  Edward  IV.,  Sir  Edward 
Neville,  head  of  the  great  family  of  the  Nevilles,  Sir  Nicholas 
Carew,  and  two  priests  and  a  sailor,  all  strong  partisans  of  the 
old  religion.  A  plot  had  been  discovered,  or  was  feared,  and 
little  evidence  was  needed  when  the  end  had  been  decided 
beforehand.  Sir  Geoffrey  became  king's  evidence,  though  he 
had  little  to  reveal,  and  was  rewarded  by  being  left  to  spend  the 
rest  of  his  life  in  the  Beauchamp  Tower,  where  there  is  an 
inscription  by  him  as  late  as  1562.  The  rest  were  beheaded  in 
the  beginning  of  1539.  The  Pope  had  thus  lost  at  one  blow 
his  leading  supporters,  and  the  separation  from  Rome  was  once 
more  made  sure.  But  the  danger  he  had  escaped  was  not  with- 
out its  evil  consequences  on  Henry.  His  imperious  temper 
grew  still  more  terrible  and  bowed  all  alike  before  his  will. 
Human  life  had  never  been  much  to  him,  but  it  became  less  and 
less  as  he  multiplied  his  victims. 

.    The  marriage   negotiations  with  the  emperor   having  been 
rudely  broken  off,  and  the  Pope  having  finally  launched  his 


328  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1539- 

thunders  at  the  king,  it  became  again  worth  while  to  court  the 
Protestant  princes.  The  possibility  of  an  alliance  of  the  English 
and  Lutheran  Churches  was  once  more  discussed,  and  with  this 
a  definite  proposal  for  marriage  with  Anne,  sister  of  John  the 
Peaceable,  Duke  of  Cleves — a  lady  of  twenty-four — Henry  being 
now  forty-eight.  For  years  back  he  had  been  suffering  from 
incurable  ulcers  in  his  legs,  and  growing  more  and  more  gross 
in  person.  She  was  large,  ungainly,  and  plain;  without  ac- 
complishments, and  ignorant  of  any  language  but  Low  German. 
Unfortunately  for  all  concerned,  she  had  been  reported  as 
exceptionally  handsome. 

The  presence  of  Gardiner  in  England  effectually  prevented 
any  friendly  relations  in  Church  affairs  with  Germany.  At  the 
end  of  February  he  induced  the  king  to  republish  his  procla- 
mation of  the  previous  November,  enjoining  all  the  superstitious 
ceremonies  which  at  an  earlier  date  had  been  discountenanced. 
The  German  Commissioners  remonstrated,  and  pleaded  for 
liberty  in  non-essentials,  but  in  vain.  Cromwell  did  his  best  on 
the  right  side,  but  it  had  come  to  be  a  question  which  should  fall, 
Gardiner  or  he,  and  he  needed  to  be  cautious. 

Meanwhile,  the  country  rang  more  fiercely  than  ever,  to 
Henry's  rage  and  disgust,  with  religious  controversy,  though  he 
had  prescribed  a  code  of  opinions  for  universal  acceptance.  In 
one  pulpit  a  fuller  reformation  was  demanded ;  in  another,  the 
restoration  of  all  the  abuses  of  Rome.  One  denounced  purga- 
tory, another  maintained  it.  The  ceremonies  lately  restored 
had  their  zealous  friends  and  equally  zealous  opponents.  The 
Real  Presence  was  discussed  by  priest  and  layman  alike.  Even 
the  village  ale-house,  and  the  blacksmith's  forge,  had  their  noisy 
discussions  of  every  doctrine  in  question  between  the  Gospellers 
and  the  Old  Party.  The  very  churches,  during  service,  were  at 
times  disturbed  by  unseemly  demonstrations,^  but,  at  the  most, 


'  Mr.  Green  and  Mr.  Froude  speak  of  "a  lawyer — a  gentleman" — 
lifting  up  a  dog  in  church  when  the  priest  raised  the  wafer,  but  both  omit  to 


A.D.  1S39-]  Light  and  Darkness.  329 

nothing  took  place  that  might  not  well  have  been  left  to  the  police. 
Henry,  however,  had  no  idea  of  any  one  thinking  for  himself. 
It  was  for  him  to  command,  and  for  his  subjects  to  obey.  There 
was  to  be  only  one  creed.  The  Reformers  and  the  Old  Party 
were  "  to  draw  in  one  yoke."'  He  had  ignominiously  failed  in 
the  past  in  making  them  do  so,  but  he  would  try  once  more. 

He  little  knew  how  hopeless  the  task  was  which  he  assumed. 
The  eternal  laws  of  the  human  mind,  the  natural  course  of 
historical  development,  and,  above  all,  the  purpose  of  the 
Almighty,  were  against  him.  There  were  three  great  parties  in 
the  nation — on  the  one  side,  the  old  Romish  section,  who  hated 
every  change  that  had  been  made,  ecclesiastical  or  religious ;  on 
the  other,  the  advanced  Reformers,  who  had  broken  away  from 
the  past  and  discarded  the  whole  system  of  priestly  mediation, 
with  the  doctrines  by  which  it  was  defended,  and  held  the  simple 
evangelical  truth.  Unhappily,  all  who  went  to  fanatical  or 
dangerous  lengths, — and  at  such  a  time  of  universal  intellectual 
ferment  they  must  have  been  numerous, — were  confounded  with 
these,  and  drew  on  them  continual  misrepresentation.  Between 
the  two  were  Henry's  party,  with  whom,  as  yet,  Latimer  and 
Cranmer  were  in  some  ways  identified,  as  still  holding  the  central 
doctrine  of  the  real  presence.  Of  this  party,  on  its  Romish  side, 
Gardiner  was  the  head,  and,  as  such,  he  regarded  the  reforming 
bishops,  who  were  daily  receding  from  his  views  and  approaching 
those  of  evangelical  religion,  with  the  bitterest  hatred.  Henry 
was  determined  to  fuse  these  fierce  contradictions  into  a  peaceful 
unity ! 

The  readiness  of  Gardiner  and  the  Romanists  to  buy  Henry's 
support  at  any  price,  determined  the  colour  of  the  new  legal 
creed.  The  money  and  lands  of  the  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  monasteries  suppressed  in   1536  were  already  swallowed  up 

say  ihat  he  was  a  poor  crazy  man,  wholly  irresponsible  for  his  acts.    See 
Foxe,  V.  251,  and  Hilles  in  Zurich  Letters,  209.     Gardiner,  I  may  say, 
had  the  honour  of  burning  the  poor  creature. 
'  Royal  Proclamation,  Rolls,  Heniy. 


330  TJu  English  Reformation.  Fad.  1539. 

in  building  forts,  in  gambling,  in  reckless  extravagance,  and  in 
bribes  to  win  support.  Those  of  the  larger  houses,  however, 
were  still  untouched,  and  of  these  there  were  six  hundred  and 
forty-five,  of  which  twenty-nine  sent  their  abbots  or  priors  to 
Parliament  as  mitred  barons.  This  vast  plunder  Henry  was 
bent  on  securing,  but  the  reforming  bishops  showed  only  a  faint 
zeal  in  his  plans.  Cranmer  was  willing  that  the  abbeys  founded 
by  the  crown  should  be  forfeited  to  it,  but  he  and  his  party 
insisted  with  equal  earnestness  and  persistency  on  the  unjustness 
of  a  wholesale  confiscation  of  all  the  vast  spoils  to  the  king's 
pleasure.  They  pleaded  for  the  foundation  of  colleges,  grammar 
schools,  and  hospitals  throughout  the  land,  that  every  diocese 
might  have  a  supply  of  adequately  trained  clergy,  that  the 
nation  might  be  educated  as  a  whole,  and  that  the  poor  who 
were  left  to  inexpressible  misery  might  find  refuges  and  aid.^ 
Gardiner  and  the  Romanists  had  no  such  scruples,  or  concealed 
them  if  they  were  felt.  It  was  better  that  Henry  should  be 
bribed  to  their  side  even  by  the  sacrifice  of  this  vast  wealth  of 
the  Church,  than  that  he  should  still  favour  Cranmer's  reforms. 
Unfortunately,  the  Archbishop  was  poorly  supported.  The 
position  of  Cromwell  was  becoming  insecure,  especially  since 
Gardiner  returned.  The  nation  disliked  him  as  a  commoner 
raised  to  invidious  greatness,  the  natural  right,  as  it  still  seemed 
in  those  days,  of  men  of  high  birth.  The  nobility  hated  him  as 
holding  a  place  rightfully  theirs.  The  spirit  which  even  in  the 
last  century  shut  out  Burke  from  office  because  he  did  not  belong 
to  the  Whig  oligarchy  was  then  infinitely  more  exclusive.  The 
clergy  and  the  monks  and  friars  hated  him  as  the  instrument  of 
their  humiliation,  and  of  the  plunder  of  the  Church.  The 
Members  of  Parliament  hated  him  as  the  agent  for  wringing 
subsidies  and  benevolences  from  them,  and  the  whole  of  the 
Romish  party.  Old  and  New,  thirsted  for  his  blood  as  the  moving 
spirit  of  the  Reformation.     It  was  a  crime,  indeed,  for  which 

*  Strype's  Cranmer,  i.  160. 


AJ).  1539^]  Light  and  Darkness.  331 

nothing  but  his  rain  could  atone,  that,  having  learned  the  New 
Testament  by  heart,  he  had  come  to  abhor  the  whole  Popish 
system,  and  to  see  that  the  sacerdotalism  of  Gardiner  was  only 
the  old  faith  with  a  new  name.  The  Reformers  alone  stood  by 
him,  and  they  were  too  feeble  to  help  him. 

Knowing  that  the  work  he  had  had  to  do  for  Henry,  and  the 
honours  he  had  received,  had  raised  him  many  enemies;  feeling, 
doubtless,  moreover,  that,  like  others  in  similar  positions  before 
him,  he  would  be  sacrificed  without  a  second  thought,  as  soon 
as  the  expediency  of  the  moment  seemed  to  demand  it,  his 
course  was  hampered  on  every  hand.  Still  he  bore  himself 
bravely,  and  stood  faithfully  by  his  self-appointed  task  of  con- 
quering religious  liberty  for  England  as  far  as  Henry  permitted. 

Latimer's  simplicity  and  want  of  discretion,  for  which  his 
bravery  hardly  made  amends,  was  another  source  of  weakness. 
Shaxton,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  for  the  time  a  zealous  Reformer, 
was  proud,  litigious,  indiscreet,  and  so  unstable  that  he  became 
a  persecutor  under  Mary ;  and  Barlow  of  St.  David's,  Hilsey  of 
Rochester,  and  Goodrich  of  Ely,  the  other  reforming  bishops, 
were  not  strong  enough  men  for  the  times; 

Parliament  was  summoned  for  April  28th,  and  great  exertions 
were  made  to  secure  the  election  of  men  willing  to  vote  as 
Henry  directed.  In  some  cases  even  the  names  of  those  to  be 
chosen  were  sent  to  the  burgesses,  and  so  complete  was  the 
terrorism  now  reigning  over  England,  that  these  names  having 
come,  in  one  instance,  after  the  members  had  been  chosen,  those 
just  elected  were  at  once  put  aside,  and  the  king's  nominees 
elected  in  their  stead.  Direct  and  avowed  interference  with 
elections  was  indeed  a  characteristic  of  the  Tudors.  They,  in 
fact,  packed  the  House  of  Commons,  as  far  as  possible,  with 
persons  in  the  royal  pay  as  court  officials,'  to  make  perfect  sub- 
serviency the  surer.  No  wonder  that  in  all  Henry's  reign  there 
was  only  one  instance — in  1532— of  the  Commons  refusing  to 

*  Hallam's  Constitutional  Histoiy,  25. 


332  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1539- 

pass  a  bill  recommended  by  the  crown,'  and  that  the  only 
hesitation  ever  shown  was  in  reference  to  grants  of  money.  The 
balance  of  parties  in  the  country  left  Henry  free  to  tyrannize  as 
he  chose,  and  crushed  all  manliness  with  rare  exceptions.  Even 
the  nobility  were  as  servile  to  him  as  the  commons.  They 
bowed  to  every  whim  of  his  capricious  humours  :  they  carried 
out  any  iniquity  he  commanded.  He  ruled  like  an  Eastern 
caliph  over  a  country  divided  by  its  religious  feuds  against  itself. 

On  the  5  th  of  May  a  royal  message,  brought  down  by 
Audley,  informed  both  houses  that  Henry  was  resolved  that 
there  should  be  religious  unity.  A  committee  of  nine  members 
of  the  Upper  House,  all  bishops,  was  named — five  Romanists, 
four  Reformers — to  draw  up  articles  on  which  all  might  agree. 
But  it  was  of  course  hopeless  that  the  tv/o  parties  could  ever  do 
so,  and  day  after  day  passed  without  result.  Meanwhile,  an 
alliance  had  been  formed  by  the  Pope  with  the  Emperor  and 
the  King  of  France,  which,  on  the  one  hand,  made  Henry  more 
than  ever  anxious  to  get  the  wealth  of  the  abbeys,  to  spend  on 
coast  defences  and  on  warlike  preparations,  in  case  of  invasion, 
and,  on  the  other,  to  win  back  the  loyalty  of  his  Romish  sub- 
jects, lay  and  clerical,  and  to  please  Charles  and  Francis  by  a 
strongly  reactionary  course  in  matters  of  religion. 

While  fierce  disputes  went  on  over  the  hopeless  basis  of 
religious  union,  bills  of  attainder  were  passed  against  those 
who  had  suffered  in  January  for  conspiracy,  with  the  Marquis  of 
Exeter.  The  Marchioness  and  Pole's  mother,  the  Countess  of 
Salisbury,  were  also  attainted,  but  spared  for  the  time,  though 
thrown  into  the  Tower.  Eleven  days  had  passed  in  fruitless 
debate,  when  Norfolk,  a  fierce  Romanist,  proposed  that  the 
Lords  should  consider  six  articles  which  he  submitted,  since 
the  committee  seemed  unlikely  to  report.  Events  proved  that 
he  was  the  mouthpiece  of  the  king  and  the  Romanists.  On 
the  first  question,  whether  any  substance  of  bread  and  wine 

*  Hallam's  Constitutional  History,  24., 


A.D.  1539^1  Light  and  Darkness.  333 

remained  in  the  Eucharist  after  consecration,  there  could  be  no 
debate,  as  even  the  reforming  bishops  still  held  the  Romish 
doctrine.  On  the  rest,  however — ^whether  communion  in  both 
kinds  is  necessary  or  permitted  to  the  laity  ?  whether  vows  of 
chastity,  made  by  men  or  women,  are  perpetually  binding  ? 
whether  private  masses  are  of  benefit  to  the  souls  of  the  dead  ? 
whether  priests  are  permitted  to  haye  wives  ?  whether  com- 
pulsory auricular  confession  should  be  retained  or  rejected  ? — a 
fierce  struggle  was  inevitable.  Cranmer  spoke  fearlessly  against 
them  for  three  days.  Cromwell,  knowing  that  Henry  wished 
an  affirmative,  was  prudently  silent,  since  nothing  could  hinder 
the  king's  pleasure  from  being  complied  with;  but  he  had 
already  determined  to  soften  the  resolutions  in  practice,  when 
they  became  law.  Both  Houses  of  Convocation  and  both 
Houses  of  Parliament  discussed  them.  Still,  on  the  23rd,  when 
the  Houses  were  prorogued  for  a  week,  no  decision  had  been 
reached. 

Meanwhile,  however,  they  had  had  opportunity  of  showing 
their  abject  servility.  By  one  Act  they  gave  the  king's  pro- 
clamations the  force  of  laws,  with  consent  of  his  council — pro- 
vided existing  statutes  were  not  infringed.  He  might  inflict 
any  punishment  short  of  death,  for  anything  he  conceived  an 
offence.  By  a  second,  the  whole  of  the  great  abbeys,  with  all 
their  lands  and  property,  were  made  over  to  the  king  without 
conditions.  Gardiner's  party  thus  paid  the  odious  bribe  for 
Henry's  support,  and  were  soon  to  reap  the  reward.  By  this 
prodigious  grant  the  king  received  all  the  land  that  belonged  to 
645  monasteries,  90  colleges  of  priests,  and  no  hospitals. 
The  yearly  rents,  at  little  more  than  half  value,  were  ;^i6i,ooo 
— a  sum  equal  now  to  about  /"2, 000,000— a  year,  and  there  were, 
besides,  uncounted  treasures,  in  jewels,  money,  plate,  cattle, 
furniture,  &c.  Such  a  gift  might  and  should  have  made  the 
crown  independent,  but  Henry  had  to  ask  for  a  subsidy  the 
next  year.  The  dissatisfaction  was  intense  through  the 
country.     Some  muttered  that  the  estates  should  have  gone 


334  ^■^^  English  Reformation.  [a-d.  iss^- 

back  to  the  families  of  the  founders  of  the  abbeys :  others,  like 
Cranmer,  would  fain  have  had  part  of  the  spoil  for  the  advance- 
ment of  evangelical  religion,  in  the  foundation  of  new  bishoprics, 
the  aid  of  divinity  halls,  and  other  noble  objects.  But  it  was 
not  to  be. 

Large  sums  from  the  vast  receipts  were  spent  on  the  defence 
of  the  coasts,  much  on  the  king's  gambling-tables ;  a  great 
many  estates  were  given  to  the  rising  men  about  court ;  and 
others  were  sold  at  a  nominal  price.  Most  of  our  nobility  who 
date  their  honours  from  this  reign  are  indebted  to  the  plunder 
of  the  abbeys  for  their  richest  estates.  Three  years  of  costly 
war  which  began  erelong,  swallowed  up  what  was  left  and  much 
treasure  besides,  so  that  six  new  bishoprics  and  eight  religious 
houses,  which  were  refounded,  were  the  only  salvage  from  the 
wreck  of  estates  and  property,  equal  to  at  least  a  third  of  the 
soil  and  capital  of  England.  But  the  Reformers  are  not  to 
blame  for  this.  Had  they  had  their  way,  things  would  have 
been  very  different.  The  Romish  party  was  for  the  time  in  the 
ascendant. 

When  the  houses  met  on  the  30th  May,  Chancellor  Audley 
informed  the  peers  that  His  Majesty,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
bishops,  had  decided  respecting  the  Six  Articles.  This  was 
equivalent  to  a  command  to  adopt  them.  Henry  had  himself 
come  into  the  House  during  the  first  debates,  which  was  enough 
to  overawe  opposition,  and,  indeed,  so  hopeless  was  any  attempt 
at  it  that  Cromwell,  though  now  sitting  as  the  king's  vicegerent, 
by  special  Act,  in  the  highest  seat  in  the  House,  had  begged  a 
member  not  to  speak  against  them  if  he  did  not  wish  to  be 
hanged  or  burned.  Cranmer  himself  in  fact  tells  us  that  if  the 
king  had  not  himself  come  personally  to  the  House  they  would 
never  have  passed ;  but  his  presence  made  opposition  worse 
than  vain.  It  only  remained,  therefore,  to  pass  a  schedule  of 
penalties,  and,  in  spite  of  Cranmer's  unwearied  and  brave 
opposition,  one  was  adopted  as  bloody  as  Gardiner  could  have 
wished.      On  the  28th  of  June  the  whole  Bill   became  law. 


j^- 1539-1  L  ight  and  Darkness.  335 

Cranmer  had  done  all  he  could,  for  he  had  even  declined  to 
leave  the  House  when  Henr}',  in  his  impatience  to  have  the 
matter  settled,  proposed  that  he  should  do  so. 

The  penalties  denounced  were  worthy  of  the  party  that 
proposed  them.  All  who  should  speak,  preach,  or  write  against 
the  doctrine  of  the  mass  were  to  be  burned  :  all  who  should 
preach  or  dispute  against  the  remaining  five  were  to  be  impri- 
soned, and  to  forfeit  their  property  for  the  first  offence ;  for  the 
second  they  were  to  be  hanged.  Transubstantiation,  com- 
munion in  one  kind,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  the  indelibility 
of  vows,  the  use  of  private  masses,  and  of  auricular  confession, 
were  thus  once  more  the  official  creed  of  the  nation,  at  its  peril. 
All  previous  marriages  of  the  clergy  were  annulled,  and  the 
gallows  was  the  pimishment  for  their  marrying  in  the  future. 
To  neglect  confession  or  the  mass  carried  the  same  doom. 

The  Romanists  were  now  in  high  spirits.  Even  abjuration 
was  no  longer  permitted.  The  only  drawback  was,  that  they 
could  not  roast  men  alive  or  hang  them,  by  processes  in  the 
bishops'  courts,  for  loving  the  simple  Gospel,  but  must  get  a 
jury  to  condemn  them. 

Cranmer  was  for  a  time  in  great  danger.  His  wife  was  at 
once  sent  back  to  Germany.  He  had  written  by  the  king's 
command  a  defence  of  his  views  on  the  Six  Articles,  and  his 
having  done  so  was  now  turned  against  him.^  Henry,  however, 
needed  one  meek  and  simple,  though  honest  and  faithful  to  his 
convictions,  and  he  was  therefore  spared.  As  soon  as  Parlia- 
ment was  prorogued,  Norfolk,  and  Suffolk,  his  brother-in-law, 
with  Cromwell,  were  sent  to  dine  with  him,  to  let  him  know 
that  he  was  still  in  favour. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  hatred  towards  Cromwell  first 
took  open  form,  and  foreshadowed  his  speedy  ruin.  As  each  at 
table  spoke  of  the  goodwill  the  king  bore  Cranmer,  Norfolk 
compared  him,  hypocritically  enough,  with  Wolsey,  saying  that 

*  Bumet's  Reformation,  i.  533. 


336  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1539- 

Cranmer  was  mild  and  gentle, whereas  the  cardinal  was  stubborn 
and  churlish,  and  could  never  bear  any  nobleman.  "And  that 
you  know,  my  Lord  Cromwell,"  added  he,  "  for  he  was  your 
master."  The  taunt  drew  forth  a  rejoinder  from  Cromwell,  that 
he  knew  he  had  been  Wolsey's  servant,  but  that  he  had  never 
been  so  much  in  love  with  him  as  to  have  gone  with  him  to 
Rome  had  he  been  chosen  Pope,  as  he,  Norfolk,  was  to  have 
done.  Norfolk  denied  the  truth  of  the  insinuation,  but  Crom- 
well repeated  it,  and  told  the  number  of  florins  he  was  to 
have  had  for  being  his  admiral  to  take  him  safely  to  Italy. 
"  You  lie,"  cried  Norfolk,  in  a  fury,  with  a  deep  oath ;  and  the 
quarrel  got  still  hotter,  till  the  archbishop  and  the  others  present 
could  only  with  difficulty  pacify  the  two  for  the  time.'  But  it 
was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Cromwell  was,  henceforth,  a 
doomed  man.  The  Romanists  knew  that  the  Reformation 
could  never  be  effectually  stamped  out  while  he  was  alive,  and 
wearied  to  have  his  head.  Norfolk  was  now  only  too  ready  to 
help  them. 

The  bishops  lost  no  time  in  improving  their  victory  in  having 
got  the  Six  Articles  passed.  A  commission  was  appointed 
to  act  as  inquisitors,  and  presently  such  crowds  were  brought 
before  their  courts,  for  having  refused  holy  water,  for  having 
kept  away  from  church,  and  the  like,  that  in  a  fortnight  five 
hundred  were  indicted  in  London  alone,  and  many  of  these  m  ere 
forthwith  thrust  into  prison.  What  that  meant  in  those  days  was 
to  be  seen  in  1557,  eighteen  years  later,  at  the  Oxford  assizes, 
when  the  high  sheriff  and  300  townspeople  died  of  infection 
caught  from  the  prisoners.^  Latimer  and  Shaxton  were  con- 
fined in  private  houses,  and  resigned  their  bishoprics,  in  the 
belief  that  it  was  the  king's  will  that  they  should  do  so,  which 
was  not  the  case,  at  least  as  regarded  Latimer.  But  the  fury 
and  malignity  of  the  reactionists  overshot  itself,  for  Henry,  at 
Cranmer's  and  Cromwell's  intercession,  used  his  new  power  of 

*  foxe,  V.  398.      *  Haydn's  Dictionary  of  Dates,  Art.  "Oxford." 


ADI539-]  Light  and  Darkness.  337 

issuing  authoritative  proclamations,  to  open  the  prison  doors 
and  set  all  free.  It  was  soon  found,  moreover,  that  the  full 
vengeance  for  which  the  Romanists  had  hoped  could  not  be  had 
so  long  as  Cromwell  lived. 

The  effect  of  the  Six  Articles  on  the  religious  future  of  Eng- 
land cannot  be  overrated,  for  they  at  once  led  to  the  first  great 
religious  emigration,  and  thus  brought  many  who  hereafter 
returned,  under  ecclesiastical  influences  very  different  from 
those  they  left  behind  them.  It  was  through  these  exiles,  and 
those  who  followed,  in  Mary's  days,  that  Puritanism  took  its 
first  definite  shape  as  a  great  party  in  our  Church — a  Puritanism, 
however,  so  mild,  that  our  Evangelical  clergy  are  its  lineal 
representatives  now.  It  might  rather  be  called  the  Protestant 
party,  as  opposed  to  the  sacerdotal,  for  the  struggle  between 
the  two  was  to  be  an  earnest  battle  for  evangelical  religion  in 
its  simplicity,  instead  of  any  imitation  of  the  priestly  system  of 
Rome. 

The  exiles  found  that  the  Reformers  on  the  Continent  were 
in  even  greater  commotion  than  themselves  at  the  legislation 
that  had  driven  them  from  England.  Even  the  gentle  Melanc- 
thon  wrote  Henry,  entreating  him  to  repeal  "  the  barbarous 
decree."  He,  Luther,  and  other  Reformers,  wrote  to  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  breaking  off  all  thought  of  union  with  a 
Church  under  such  a  king.  As  to  Gardiner,  they  made  the  most 
blasting  disclosures,  which  it  is  well  to  keep  in  mind  in  judging 
the  system  of  which  he  was  the  recognized  champion.  "  While 
exposing  before  all  this  nation  his  scandalous  connections," 
they  wrote,  "  he  dares  to  assert  that  it  is  contrary  to  the  law 
of  God  for  a  minister  of  God  to  have  a  wife.  Yet  he  leads 
about  the  country  two  mistresses  in  mens  clothes."^  In  Eng- 
land men  said  that  the  articles  had  been  written,  not  with 
Gardiner's  ink,  but  with  the  blood  of  a  dragon,  or  rather  the 
claws  of  the  devil.' 

*  Corp.  Ref.,  iil  796.  "  Foxe,  v.  539. 


338  The  English  Reformation.  [a-d.  1539- 

Yet  there  were  gleams  of  light  in  the  sky.  Tunstal,  of 
Durham,  wrote  to  the  king  as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  bishops, 
asking  that  auricular  confession  might  be  enforced  through  the 
country,  but  he  was  told  that  he  was  "  a  self-willed  man,"  and 
his  demand  was  rejected.  The  pohtical  bearing  of  the  con- 
fessional turned  Henry  against  it.  Nor  was  there  any  hope  of 
the  restoration  of  the  Pope's  authority,  for  one  of  the  amuse- 
ments given  the  Londoners  this  summer,  by  the  king's  order, 
was  a  sea-fight  between  two  galleys,  one  bearing  the  English 
flag,  the  other  the  Papal  arms,  which  ended  by  Henry's  soldiers 
boarding  the  Pope's  boat,  and  pitching  the  effigies  of  the  Pope 
and  of  several  of  his  cardinals  into  the  river,  amidst  the  shouts  of 
the  people.  The  Papal  image,  indeed,  was  presently  pulled  on 
board  again,  but  only  to  be  dragged  through  the  streets  and 
burnt  after  it  had  been  hanged.^ 

The  Bible,  also,  was  as  yet  left  free.  Henry  looked  on  it  as 
the  best  help  he  had  against  the  Pope.  An  edition  of  2,500 
copies  had  been  exhausted  within  a  year,  and  Cromwell,  eager 
to  keep  what  ground  he  could,  arranged  for  the  printing  of  a 
fresh  one  at  Paris,  where  both  the  paper  and  presswork  were 
better  than  in  England.  Francis  was  at  the  time  seeking 
Henry's  favour,  and  sanctioned  the  proposal,  since  the  hated 
volumes  would  at  once  be  exported  from  France,  when  printed. 
Grafton  and  Coverdale  presently  went  over  to  Paris,  and  laboured 
hard  to  get  the  work  done  while  they  could,  but  they  found 
themselves  in  constant  danger  if  they  ventured  into  the  streets. 
At  last,  in  December,  1538,  the  officers  of  the  Inquisition 
entered  the  printing-office  and  ordered  the  printing  to  be 
stopped,  and  the  sheets  to  be  given  up  to  be  burned.  Provi- 
dentially, all  that  had  been  printed,  up  to  a  short  time  previous, 
had  already  been  sent  off  to  England,  and  a  bribe  to  the  officer 
rescued  nearly  all  the  rest.  But  even  this  would  not  content 
Cromwell.     Agents  sent  by  him  to  Paris  got  possession  of  the 

'  Le  Grand,  Divorce,  ii.  205. 


A.D.  I539-]  Light  and  Darkness.  339 

presses,  the  types,  and  even  the  printers,  and  took  the  whole 
^way  with  them  to  London,  where  the  printing  was  completed 
two  months  later,  the  last  page  bearing  the  words,  "  The  whole 
Bible  finished  in  1539 — A  Domino  factum  est  istud" — "It  is 
the  Lord's  doing." 

The  wisdom  of  Cranmer's  retention  of  his  post  was  now  seen. 
Letters  patent  were  granted  him,  allowing  private  persons  to 
have  "the  free  and  liberal  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  English 
tongue,"  and  sanctioning  only  Tyndale's  translation  as  issued  in 
successive  editions  by  Cromwell. 

Other  matrimonial  schemes  having  been  abortive,  both  in 
France  and  in  the  circle  of  the  emperor,  Henry  had  fallen  back 
on  the  proposal  to  take  the  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Cleves,  and 
thus  form  a  Protestant  league  which  should  support  him  against 
the  counter-alliance  of  France,  Charles,  and  the  Pope,  at  all 
times  so  dangerous.  After  lengthened  negotiations  the  bride- 
elect  was  at  last  sent  for,  and  brought  to  Calais  with  great  pomp. 
Reports  had  reached  England  that  her  charms  were  rather  in 
her  worth  than  in  her  beauty,  but  Holbein,  in  an  evil  hour  for 
Cromwell,  had  been  sent  over  to  paint  her  portrait,  and  he  had 
done  it  with  more  fancy  and  less  realism  than  his  wont,  though 
Cromwell's  agents  maintained  that  the  resemblance  was  perfect. 
The  Evangelical  party  were  in  high  spirits.  The  Six  Articles 
must  needs  be  neutralized  by  such  an  alliance :  toleration  of 
Evangelical  doctrine  must  follow  the  advent  of  a  Protestant 
queen.  Barnes,  an  extreme  man  of  the  party,  and  by  no  means 
its  best  representative,  had  been  sent  over  as  one  of  the  English 
commissioners,  and  he  could  report  that,  thanks  to  Cromwell, 
persecution  was  over  in  England,  preaching  was  free,  and 
religious  books,  including  the  Bible,  had  open  sale. 

But  the  vicegerent  was  playing  a  dangerous  game,  for  the 
Romanists  ill  brooked  the  suspension  of  the  Six  Articles  and  the 
consequent  escape  of  their  prey,  and  they  were  the  majority  of 
the  Privy  Council.  Henry  warned  him  to  be  cautious,  but  he 
answered  the  haughtiness  of  his  enemies  by  haughtiness  in 


340  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1539- 

return,  conscious  of  the  greatness  of  his  aims,  and  filled  with  a 
righteous  loathing  of  priestcraft  and  all  that  abetted  it.  The 
extravagance  of  the  king,  the  fortification  of  the  coasts,  the 
granting  away  of  abbey  lands,  and  the  expenses  in  Ireland, 
caused  an  outlay  which  swallowed  up  immense  sums,  and  for 
this  Cromwell  was  blamed,  though  he  was  only  the  servant  of 
Henry's  will  in  such  matters  as  in  all  others.  It  had  been  so 
with  Wolsey.  Slavish  obedience  had  been  demanded  from  him, 
and  yet  he  had  been  treated  and  ruined  as  if  acting  freely. 
Cromwell's  own  outlay  was  great  though  he  affected  no  state.  He 
had  agents  all  over  Europe,  and  his  bounty  at  home  fed  two 
hundred  poor  every  day.  To  meet  this  he  had  no  regular 
salary,  but  had  to  rely  on  gifts  and  pensions  for  services  rendered, 
as  was  then  the  unwholesome  practice.  This  year,  1539,  at  the 
dissolution  of  the  great  monasteries,  Henry  had  granted  him 
thirty  monastic  manors  and  valuable  estates,  and  he  had  previously 
obtained  the  Castle  and  Lordship  of  Okeham,  and  the  impro- 
priated^ revenues  of  the  Deanery  of  Windsor.  Jealousy  of  such 
favours  to  one  "  low-born ; "  hatred  of  him  as  the  patron  of 
"  heretics,"  and  for  the  part  he  had  had  to  take  in  the  execu- 
tions of  men  like  the  Marquis  of  Exeter  and  those  who  suffered 
with  him,  had  combined  to  set  a  conspiracy  afoot  to  ruin  him. 
Of  this,  Gardiner,  ever  smooth,  treacherous  and  crafty,  was  the 
soul.  Cranmer  knew  he  was  plotting  Cromwell's  destruction,  and 
would  have  been  glad  could  he  have  fastened  some  charge  against 
him  for  his  evidently  treasonable  relations  to  Rome,  that  he  might 
save  his  friend  by  getting  so  bitter  an  enemy  removed;  but 
Gardiner  was  too  wily  to  be  caught,  and  though  constantly  at 
the  very  edge  of  the  law,  took  care  not  to  pass  openly  beyond  it. 
Anne  of  Cleves  had  reached  Calais  on  the  12th  December, 
but  the  weather  prevented  her  crossing  to  Deal  for  a  fortnight. 
At  last,  two  days  after  Christmas,  she  landed,  and  went  the  same 

*  Impropriate  —  lit,    to   appropriate  to    private   use — to    make    over 
ecclesiastical  property  to  a  layman. 


AJ).  I539-]  Light  and  Darkness.  341 

night  to  Dover,  whence,  after  resting  over  Sunday,  the  next  day, 
she  set  out  to  Canterbury.  Half-way  towards  the  old  cathedral 
city,  on  Barham  Down,  she  was  met  by  Cranmer  and  five  other 
bishops,  in  a  wild  storm,  and  passing  on  reached  Rochester  on 
New  Year's  Eve.  Here  the  king  was  in  waiting,  impatient  to 
see  her,  but  she  was  not  the  woman  to  please  a  man  like  him ; 
for,  though  ladylike,  she  was  dark  in  complexion,  plain,  and  large. 
He  was  now  forty-nine,  and  no  longer  the  splendid  creature  he 
once  had  been,  for  he  was  getting  hugely  bloated,  and  his  leg 
was  growing  constantly  worse,  but  he  was  as  exacting  in 
female  beauty  as  ever.  Without  waiting  to  speak  twenty  words 
he  left  her  and  rode  off  from  Rochester.  Cromwell's  doom  was 
fixed,  for  any  ruffle  of  his  pleasures,  any  fret  of  his  royal  mind, 
was  quite  enough  to  efface  a  life  of  service,  and  to  make  him 
abandon  the  highest  or  best  to  his  enemies. 

The  destruction  of  the  great  abbeys  and  the  sequestration  of 
their  lands  had  gone  on  ruthlessly.  The  head  monks  and  nuns 
indeed  were  pensioned,  some  so  liberally  that  they  were  erelong 
made  bishops  to  save  their  annuities,  which  were  always  paid, 
but  the  rank  and  file  had  suffered  much.  The  wealth  and 
splendour  of  some  of  the  abbeys  may  be  imagined  by  the  picture 
of  Glastonbury  left  us  by  the  visitors  in  1538.  It  was  "a  house 
meet  for  the  king's  majesty  and  no  man  else — great,  goodly, 
and  so  princely  as  we  have  not  seen  the  like.  There  are  four 
parks  adjoining,  the  furthermost  of  them  but  four  miles  from 
the  house ;  a  great  mere,  five  miles  round,  and  a  mile  and  a-half 
from  the  house,  well  stocked  with  great  pikes,  bream,  perch,  and 
roach ;  four  manor  houses  belonging  to  the  abbot,  the  further- 
most only  three  miles  distant."  These  princely  mansions  were 
dismantled,  and  remain  still  a  wonder  in  their  ruin ;  the  cattle 
were  sold  "  for  ready  money,"  the  lands  leased,  and  the  monks 
dismissed,  with  "pensions  and  the  king's  benevolence  and 
reward."^   Unfortunately  for  him,  the  abbot,  a  peer  of  the  realm, 

*  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  258. 


342  The  English  Reformation.  Tad.  1539- 

an  old  man,  with  an  income  equal  now  to  ;^42,oco  a  year, 
had  let  his  monks  hide  away  the  plate,  jewels,  &c.,  and  had 
helped  the  northern  insurgents.  Suspicion  was  thus  drawn  on 
him,  which  ended  in  his  being  hanged,  shortly  before  Christmas, 
with  two  of  the  monks,  on  a  hill-top  near  the  baronial  splendour 
over  which  he  had  so  long  reigned.  Two  other  powerful  abbots, 
of  Reading  and  of  Colchester,  were  also  hanged  about  the  same 
time  on  nearly  similar  charges.  So  impartially  did  Henry  strike 
all  parties  in  his  tyranny. 

The  destruction  of  such  magnificent  buildings  as  Glastonbury, 
Fountains  Abbey,  and  a  host  of  others,  is  a  lasting  cause  of 
regret,  especially  as  it  sprang  from  no  misguided  but  noble 
religious  fervour,  but  was  the  act  of  an  absolute  king,  himself  a 
bigoted  Romanist.  With  power  like  his  he  might  have  turned 
such  wonders  of  architecture  to  what  worthy  uses  he  pleased, 
but  he  preferred  to  sell  the  bells  for  a  trifle,  to  strip  the  lead 
from  the  roofs  because  he  could  sell  it  for  cash,  and,  where  he 
could,  to  sell  even  the  stones. 

But  a  still  deeper  regret  rises  at  the  thought  of  the  literary 
destruction  such  Vandalism  brought  with  it,  though  the  Reformers 
stand  absolutely  clear  from  the  blame.  It  was  the  Romish 
bishops  who  had  voted  unanimously  to  give  the  abbeys  uncon- 
ditionally to  the  king  :  the  Reformers  had  lost  favour  by  stand- 
ing out  against  such  sacrilege. 

The  abbeys  and  monasteries  had  till  then  been  the  only 
libraries  in  England  ;  and  though  not  a  few  had  been  left  to 
moulder  in  neglect,  as  was  to  be  expected  in  a  time  of  such 
corruption,  there  were  others  of  the  greatest  value,  like  that 
happily  preserved  at  Durham.  But  the  men  sent  to  break  up 
the  old  monastic  foundations  had  little  interest  in  such  treasures  : 
perhaps  underrated  them  from  the  prejudice  of  the  times  against 
everything  monkish.  When  men's  passions  are  roused  in  times 
of  great  social  revolution,  they  cannot  act  calmly.  The  whole 
nature  is  too  fiercely  excited  to  leave  the  judgment  free.  Nor 
do  we  know  whether  the  visitors  were  not  unthinkingly  told  to 


A.D.  1539.1  Light  and  Darkness.  343 

turn  all  they  could  find  into  money.  In  any  case  libraries 
were  unfortunately  sold,  like  the  lead  of  the  roofs,  for  what 
they  would  bring — "  Some,"  says  Bale,  "  to  grocers  and  soap- 
sellers,  and  some  they  sent  over  the  sea  to  the  book-binders, 
not  in  small  number,  but  at  times  whole  ships  full.  Yea,  the 
Universities  of  this  realm  are  not  all  clear  of  this  detestable 
fact.  I  know  a  merchant-man  that  bought  the  contents  of  two 
noble  libraries  for  forty  shillings.  This  stuff  he  has  used  instead 
of  gray  paper  for  more  than  ten  years,  and  he  has  enough  for 
ten  years  to  come."'  Would  that  the  entreaties  of  Cranmer  had 
been  heard !  for  his  voice  pleaded  for  moderation,  and  the  pre- 
servation of  what  would  help  education,  when  men  like  Gardiner 
were  silent,  except  to  vote  everything  to  the  king,  to  make  away 
with  at  his  pleasure. 

Bonner,  "  the  little  fat  priest,"  had  wormed  his  way  by  blus- 
tering professions  of  extreme  Protestantism  into  the  see  of 
Hereford,  in  1538,  having  cheated  even  Cromwell  by  the 
earnestness  with  which  he  played  his  part.  What  he  really  was 
may  be  judged  from  his  life  at  Nice,  that  year,  when  sent  with 
others  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Charles  and  Francis.  Charles 
would  not  see  him,  and  he  stayed  at  Villa  Franca,  two  miles 
from  town,  in  the  same  house  with  the  members  of  the  embassy, 
though  not  admitted  to  their  intimacy.  They  kept  him  at  a 
distance,  in  fact,  from  disgust  at  his  immorality,  for  he  openly 
kept  a  mistress,  now  he  was  far  enough  off  from  English  eyes. 
He  and  Gardiner  were  thus  a  worthy  couple.  Meanwhile, 
Stokesley  having  died,  Bonner, — his  vicious  life  being  unsus- 
pected by  Cromwell  and  Cranmer, — was  made  Bishop  of  London, 
a  dignity  in  which  he  was  to  play  a  part  that  has  made  his  name 
for  ever  infamous. 

^  Declaialion  uuoa  Leiaad's  Journal,  1549. 


16 


CHAPTER  XX. 


THE  FALL  OF  CROMWELL. 


ON  the  6th  January,  1540,  Henry,  dreading  that  his  sending 
her  back  would  drive  her  brother  into  the  hands  of 
Charles  and  Francis,  married  Anne  of  Cleves,  sorely  against  his 
will.  He  kept  a  pleasant  face,  however,  for  the  German  commis- 
sioners who  had  come  with  her,  and  treated  her  with  due  respect, 
so  that  the  Reformers  were  in  great  hopes  that  better  days  were  in 
store  for  them.  Her  real  worth,  it  was  trusted,  would  make  the 
union  a  blessing.  The  German  Reformers  even  dreamed  of  a 
union  with  the  English  Church,  after  all,  and  once  more  sent 
over  a  protest  against  the  terrible  Six  Articles.  Anxious  to  keep 
on  good  terms  for  the  time  with  the  Protestant  princes  of  the 
Continent,  Henry  promised  to  soften  their  rigour,  being  anxious 
above  all  "to  see  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ  shine  in  all 
Churches."  What  these  soft  words  meant  was  shown  only 
too  soon. 

Barnes  had  been  sent  to  Germany  about  Anne,  and  this, 
doubtless,  did  him  no  good  in  the  eyes  of  the  king,  as  he  had 
been  in  her  favour.  The  Popish  bishops,  now  in  the  ascendant, 
eager  to  entrap  any  prominent  Reformers,  got  him.  Garret,  who 
had  once  been  in  trouble  for  selling  Testaments  at  Oxford,  and 
latterly  had  been  chaplain  to  Latimer,  and  Jerome,  rector  of 
Stepney,  a  popular  Evangelical  preacher,  named  for  Lent  sermons 
at  Paul's  Cross.     On  February  7,  the  Sunday  before,  Gardiner 


AD.  154a]  The  Fall  of  Cromwell,  345 

himself  preached  "  a  very  Popish  sermon,"  there,  "  much  to  the 
discontent  of  the  people,  and  was  ably  answered  by  Dr.  Barnes," 
as  a  Reformer  writes  to  his  friend, "  on  the  following  Lord's  day, 
with  the  most  gratifying,  and  all  but  universal  applause."^  Gar- 
diner's sermon  was  a  poor  enough  one.  From  the  text,  "  Cast 
thyself  down,"^  he  told  his  audience  that  "  the  devil  nowadays 
tempts  the  world,  and  bids  them  cast  themselves  backwards. 
There  is  no  forwards  in  the  New  Teaching  but  all  backward. 
Now,  the  devil  teaches.  Come  back  from  fasting,  come  back 
from  praying,  come  back  from  confession,  come  back  from 
weeping  for  thy  sins.  All  is  backward,  insomuch  that  men 
must  now  learn  to  say  their  Paternoster  backward.  Of  old, 
heaven  was  sold  at  Rome  for  a  little  money ;  now  that  we  have 
done  with  all  that  trumpery,  the  devil  has  invented  another — he 
offers  us  heaven  for  nothing."  Thus  did  the  saint  who  travelled 
when  abroad  with  two  mistresses  in  his  train,  stigmatize  evan- 
gelical preaching,  and  cry  up  the  merit  of  works. 

Barnes,  always  unwise,  was  rash  enough  to  pun  on  the  bishop's 
name  in  his  reply,  under  the  figure  of  a  gardener  who  left  weeds 
growing  in  his  master's  garden ;  but  it  was  done  openly  in  his 
presence,  and  he  asked  his  forgiveness  before  he  closed,  as  if 
conscious  that  his  vehemence  had  carried  him  too  far.  The 
answer  was  a  complaint  to  the  king,  of  the  insult.  Garret  and 
Jerome  had  further  offended,  if  not  by  any  personalities,  yet  by 
preaching  the  simple  truths  of  the  New  Testament,  and  the 
three  were  therefore  ordered  to  make  a  public  retractation  of 
this  offence  against  the  Six  Articles,  on  the  following  Sunday, 
which  was  Easter.  On  the  4th  of  April  Barnes  read,  word  for 
word,  the  official  paper  put  into  his  hands,  and  then  once  more 
begged  pardon  of  Gardiner,  who  again  was  present.  This  over, 
he  preached,  without  offensive  words,  the  same  doctrine  as 
before,  that  we  are  saved  by  God's  grace,  not  by  our  own  works. 
Garret  and  Jerome  did  the  same,  for  it  was  the  essence  of  the 

^  Original  Letters,  p.  316.  '  Matt  iv.  6 


34^  Tlie  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1540. 

Gospel,  which,  as  faithful  men,  they  could  not  but  proclaim. 
The  result  was,  they  were  sent  by  Henry  to  the  Tower.' 

Parliament  met  eight  days  after,^  the  first  that  had  been  held 
in  England  without  any  abbots  or  priors  in  the  Upper  House. 
Cromwell  had  tried  to  break  oflF  Francis  from  the  emperor  and 
join  him  with  Henry  and  the  German  Protestant  princes,  but 
had  failed,  and  failure,  with  the  king,  was  crime.  Worse  than 
all,  Charles,  ever  dexterous  in  his  diplomacy,  had  virtually 
detached  these  princes  from  England,  by  specious  promises, 
and  Henry  was  left,  all  but  in  name,  alone.  Things  boded  ill 
for  the  great  minister,  for  he  was,  for  the  moment,  unsuccessful. 

The  spirits  of  the  Romanists  were  moreover  elated  by  the 
belief  that  the  emperor  and  Henry  would  once  more  unite,  and 
that  the  old  faith  would  be  once  more  fully  restored,  the  supre- 
macy of  the  Pope  excepted.  The  emperor,  bitter  enemy  as  he 
was  to  the  Reformation,  was  supremely  desirous  to  unite 
Christendom  by  some  concessions,  and  Lutheranism  was  not 
yet  hopelessly  schismatic.  He  dreamed  that  a  Council  might 
be  held,  at  which  reconciliation  might  be  attained,  and  Henry 
and  the  English  Romanists  eagerly  joined  in  the  hope.  Even 
this  helped  to  incline  the  king  more  than  ever  to  the  party  of 
Gardiner  and  Norfolk,  and  thus  aided  in  Cromwell's  downfall, 
as  the  promoter  of  a  policy  essentially  opposed  to  his  own,  at 
the  moment. 

Feeling  the  ground  tremble  below  him,  Cromwell,  while 
keeping  a  brave  front,  took  vigorous  measures  against  his  most 
prominent  enemies.  He  had  already  tried  to  catch  Gardiner  in 
the  meshes  of  the  Supremacy  Act,  but  had  failed ;  he  now  sent 
Sampson,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  to  the  Tower  for  having 
relieved  some  "  traitorous  persons,"  and  Gardiner  and  Tunstal 
would  likely  have  followed  had  he  himself  lived  longer  than  he 
did.  With  Sampson,  was  arrested  one  Dr.  Wilson,  "  a  fierce 
Papist."    Their  special  offence  had  been  sending  "  alms  to  the 

^  April  4,  1540.  *  April  12,  1540. 


AJ).  1540.]  The  Fall  of  Cromwell.  347 

Papist  Abel,'*  a  priest  who  was  loud  against  the  king's  supre- 
macy, and  had  been  a  pamphleteer  for  Queen  Catherine,  long 
before.  The  poor  creature  had  been  "  reduced  to  the  greatest 
distress  from  having  been  long  kept  in  a  most  filthy  prison,  and, 
as  the  Papists  here  affirm,  almost  eaten  up  by  vermin."*  Such 
were  religious  politics  under  Henry. 

Cromwell,  in  Henry's  name,  informed  Parliament  at  its 
opening,  in  April,  that  the  king  was  still  as  resolutely  bent  "  on 
the  prevailing  of  Christ,  the  prevailing  of  the  Word  of  God,  the 
prevailing  of  the  Truth,"  as  ever,  but,  unfortunately,  these  fine 
words  meant  only  that  he  was  determined,  sword  in  hand,  to 
enforce  his  own  opinions  on  all  parties  alike.  Two  days  later 
Cromwell's  ruin  was  brought  a  step  nearer  by  Henry's  heaping 
additional  honours  on  him,  for  it  was  the  practice  of  the 
royal  monster,  serpent-like  to  lick  tenderly  beforehand  the 
victim  he  was  about  to  destroy.  He  had  given  special  marks 
of  favour  to  Anne  Boleyn  immediately  before  handing  her  over 
to  a  trial  than  which,  as  Hallam  says,  "  nothing  is  worse  in  this 
detestable  reign."'  Cromwell  was  already  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  first  Secretary  of  State, Vicegerent,  and  Vicar-general 
■)f  England  in  spiritual  affairs.  Lord  Privy  Seal,  a  Knight  of  the 
Garter,  and  a  Baron  of  the  Realm — he  was  now  created  Earl  of 
Essex.  He  had  odious  work  to  do  in  this  Parli^iuient  for  Henry, 
and  the  new  title  might  stimulate  him  to  bear  the  hatred  thus 
incurred.  Besides,  when  he  was  given  up  to  his  enemies,  would 
it  not  seem  that  he  had  been  assuredly  a  traitor,  else  why 
should  the  king  have  given  one  up  to  whom  he  had  just  done 
such  honour  ?  The  royal  pocket  was  always  empty,  however 
frequently  filled,  and  Cromwell  had  to  fill  it.     To  do  so  would 

'  Hilles  to  BuUinger.  Orig.  Letters,  211.  Hilles  was  a  London  mer- 
chant of  high  character,  an  educated  man,  familiar  with  the  Fathers,  and 
able  to  correspond  in  Latin.  He  had  fled  to  the  Continent  after  the  Six 
Articles,  and  there  won  golden  opinions  from  all  alike  by  his  genuine 
worth  and  noble  liberality  to  the  exiles. 

*  Constitutional  History,  19. 


348  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1540. 

bring  him  hatred,  but  he  could  be  thrown  to  the  lions  when  the 
money  was  secured,  to  turn  off  the  popular  indignation  from  his 
master.  On  April  23rd,  he  obtained,  of  course  at  Henry's 
direction,  the  suppression  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem, 
and  the  confiscation  of  their  estates  to  the  king.  On  May  3rd, 
he  got  for  the  king  from  Parliament  and  Convocation  an 
unparalleled  subsidy  of  a  fifth  of  all  the  yearly  incomes  of  the 
bishops  and  clergy,  in  addition  to  the  tenths  received  from  them 
annually.  The  laity,  including  all  classes  from  the  noble  to  the 
peasant,  were  forced  to  submit  to  the  oppressive  tax  of  "  a  tenth 
of  all  their  yearly  income,  patrimony,  and  lands,"  and  from  those 
who  had  none  of  these,  "  a  twentieth  of  their  moneys,  goods, 
cattle,  fruit,  and  all  kinds  of  property  whatever  "  was  taken. 
So  keen,  indeed,  was  the  bidding  of  the  two  parties — Cromwell's 
friends  and  his  enemies — for  royal  favour  that  the  archbishops 
and  bishops  offered  this  money  "  of  their  own  accord "  in  the 
name  of  all  the  clergy,  "  because  the  king  had  delivered  them 
from  the  yoke  and  bondage  of  the  Roman  Pontiff."  "  As  if," 
says  honest  Hilles,  "they  had  ever  been,  when  subject  to  the 
Pope,  imder  such  a  yoke  as  they  are  now,  when  all  their  property, 
and  life  itself,  are  at  the  king's  disposal."  Parliament,  emulating 
the  servility  of  the  clergy,  also  professed  to  make  a  voluntary 
grant  of  the  extortions  wrung  from  them.  "  But  everything," 
says  Hilles,  with  bitter  irony,  "  is  given  freely  and  voluntarily  in 
this  country."*  Had  Henry  known  what  was  in  some  letters 
from  London  to  the  Continent,  it  would  have  fared  ill  with  the 
writers. 

By  the  8th  of  May,  the  king  had  got  the  money  he  wanted, 
and  was  ready  to  let  Cromwell  perish  now  he  had  served  his 
own  purpose  by  him.  Some  ecclesiastical  details  filled  up  a  day 
or  two,  and  on  the  i  ith  of  May  Parliament  was  prorogued  till  the 
25th.  The  interval  was  needed  to  plan  the  ruin  of  the  great 
minister.    A  note  sent  him  by  Henry  on  the  9th  of  May,  within 

*  Hilles  to  Bullinger.     Orig.  Letters,  207. 


AD.  1540]  The  Fall  of  Cromwell.  349 

a  few  hours  after  the  subsidies  and  taxes,  which  he  had  been 
ordered  to  obtain,  had  been  secured,  afterwards  showed  him 
that  his  death  had  been  settled  by  the  king  while  he  was  seem- 
ingly more  friendly  with  him  than  ever.  On  the  loth  of  June 
he  was  arrested  by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  when  sitting  at  the 
Council  Table.  One  man  alone  remained  faithful  to  him,  and 
that  was  Cranmer — the  one  voice  raised  at  an  earlier  day  in 
defence,  as  far  as  was  possible  under  such  a  king,  of  Anne  Boleyn. 
"  He  was  such  a  servant,"  said  he,  "  in  my  judgment,  in  wisdom, 
faithfulness,  and  experience,  as  no  prince  in  this  realm  ever  had  " 
— "  he  loved  your  majesty,  as  I  ever  thought,  no  less  than  God." 
A  bill  to  attaint  him  was  read  a  first  time,  on  the  1 7th  ;  on  the 
19th  it  was  read  a  second  and  a  third  time,  and  sent  down  to  the 
Commons.  Thence  it  came  back  on  the  29th  to  the  Lords, 
and  was  there  read  three  times  at  one  sitting,  and  once  more 
passed  without  a  dissentient  voice.  The  last  step — Henry's 
assent — was  given  the  same  day.^  The  service  of  twelve  years, 
with  unexampled  devotion ;  the  splendid  ability  displayed ;  the 
many  noble  qualities  exhibited,  were  nothing.  Out  of  temper 
with  even  such  a  servant  for  a  moment,  the  punishment  was 
death !  Cromwell  was  charged  with  heresy  and  treason ;  the 
first  because  he  favoured  the  Reformation;  the  second,  in 
reality,  because  he  had  carried  out  the  commands  imposed  on 
him  by  the  king.  His  condernnation  unheard,  a  process  he  had 
himself  used,  likely  by  Henry's  orders,  with  others,  is  the  strongest 
presumption  of  his  innocence.  He  was,  doubtless,  zealous  for 
an  honest  evangelical  Reformation,  and  he  may  have  exceeded 
what  were  afterwards  defined  as  the  limits  of  ofiicial  duty  in 
furthering  it,  but  we  know  neither  what  evidence  was  given 
against  him,  nor,  indeed,  if  there  was  any.  He  was  not  heard 
in  his  own  defence,  and  "  the  whole  judicial  proceedings  against 
him  may  be  pronounced  altogether  void  of  any  shadow  of 
justice."' 

*  Lords'  Journals.        *  Sir  James  Mackintosh's  England,  ii.  227. 


350  Tlie  English  Reformation.  Ia-d.  154a. 

The  doomed  man  lay  for  a  month  in  the  Tower  under  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  Henry  even  sent  him  some  money  to 
make  his  confinement  more  endurable.  He  also  gave  his  son 
Gregory,  a  lad  of  weak  intellect,  his  father's  titles,  to  shut  the 
victim's  mouth,  for  fear  of  their  subsequent  withdrawal.  Crom- 
well's real  offence,  so  far  as  the  king  was  concerned,  was 
generally  whispered  to  be  that  he  did  not  urge  a  divorce  which 
Henry  now  wanted,  and  Gardiner  and  the  other  courtiers 
zealously  supported.  Cromwell,  on  the  other  hand,  "  thought 
it  would  neither  be  for  the  king's  honour,  nor  for  the  good  of 
the  kingdom."  ^  Henry's  increased  zeal  for  separation  from  his 
new  wife  had,  in  fact,  grown  intelligible  to  the  community 
before  Cromwell  was  struck  down,  for  it  was  noticed,  first  by 
the  courtiers,  and  then  publicly,  that  he  had  chosen  a  new 
object  of  his  attentions — Catherine,  daughter  of  Lord  Edmund 
Howard,  and  niece  to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk — "  a  lady  of  very  dimi- 
nutive stature," — with  whom  he  was  for  the  moment  much  taken. 
He  was  seen  constantly  in  the  day-time,  and  occaisionally  even 
at  midnight,  crossing  over  to  her  on  the  Thames  in  a  little  boat, 
and  it  was  noticed  that  Gardiner  very  often  provided  feastings 
and  entertainments  for  them  in  his  palace,  though  the  citizens  at 
first  thought  it  rather  betokened  immorality  than  a  divorce. 

The  passion  for  a  niece  of  Norfolk,  Cromwell's  deadly  enemy, 
and  the  feastings  accepted  frorh  Gardiner,  an  enemy  of  the 
doomed  man  even  more  bitter  than  the  other,  with  the  failure 
of  the  designed  alliance  with  the  Protestant  princes  against 
Charles,  involving  as  it  had  done  the  hateful  marriage  with 
Anne, — explain  the  fate  of  Cromwell.  Kept  lingering  on  till 
the  28th  of  July,  he  was  then  beheaded,  with  Lord  Hungerford, 
who  was  accused  of  having  used  conjuring  to  find  out  how  long 
the  king  would  live.^  Anything  was  enough,  under  such  a 
king,  as  an  excuse  for  legal  murder. 

It  has  been  the  custom  to  denounce  Cromwell  as  a  worthless 

*  Hilles,  Zurich  Let.,  202.  '  Burnet,  i.  58a 


AD.  IS40.J  The  Fall  of  Cromwell,  35 1 

adventurer,  because  the  work  he  had  to  do  involved  hardship 
and  evil  in  the  doing.  It  may  have  been  wrong  to  have  taken 
office  at  all  under  such  a  man,  but,  having  accepted  it,  the  choice 
between  playing  the  despot  when  ordered  or  himself  perishing 
was  before  him  each  moment.  No  Minister  of  whatever  rank 
was  more  than  the  slave  of  Henry's  imperious  all-directing 
will.  Nor  dared  either  Lords  or  Commons,  on  peril  of  death, 
act  freely.  The  sword  hung  over  every  head.  To  hesitate  for 
a  moment  in  obeying  the  king's  worst  commands  meant  de- 
struction. In  such  a  position  it  is  impossible  to  judge  a  man 
fairly.  Where  we  see  him  in  private,  Cromwell  was  a  faithful 
and  true  friend  :  unostentatious,  charitable,  merciful.  Even  in 
his  official  relations  he  continually  tempered  the  reigning 
tyranny  with  mercy,  where  possible.  In  many  cases,  indeed, 
he  could  not,  but  had  to  transmit  orders,  not  to  try  men,  but  to 
execute  them.  But  who  can  say  how  much  he  resisted  or  what 
pain  his  ignominious  position  gave  him,  as  chief  slave  of  the  awful 
master  he  had  to  please  ?  One  thing  is  certain,  that  had  he  had 
his  way.  Southern  Germany  would  have  been  secured  for  Pro- 
testantism, the  Thirty  Years'  War  averted,  and  England  reformed 
in  a  far  grander  sense  than  it  really  was.  The  charge  against 
him  of  designing  and  carrying  out  the  despotism  of  the  State 
over  the  Church  is  ridiculous,  Henry's  notions  of  his  supremacy 
were  incompatible  with  any  theory  that  made  the  Church  more 
than  a  mere  department  of  the  State.  The  broad  and  generous 
ecclesiastical  theory  of  Cromwell  and  Cranmer  would  ultimately 
have  made  the  Church  essentially  as  independent  as  the  Presby- 
terian Churches  became  in  Scotland,  for  they  wished  to  eradicate 
the  exclusive  sacerdotalism  which  has  been  the  source  of  all 
ecclesiastical  troubles  of  modem  England,  and  to  xmite  with 
the  Protestantism  of  Europe  on  a  common  platform  of  evan- 
gelical truth.  Neither  proposed  to  alter  the  Episcopal  Church 
government  already  established ;  it  would  have  remained  un- 
touched in  its  least  detail,  but  it  would  have  rested  on  popular 
sympathies  and  its  own  merits,  rather  than  on  exclusive  claims. 


352  The  English  Reformation.  \.kj>.  1540. 

Gardiner  now  seemed  to  have  finally  triumphed.  He  had 
burned  three  people  in  London  in  the  spring  because  they  denied 
transubstantiation,  and  had  not  received  the  sacrament  at 
Easter,  and  shortly  after  had  sent  to  the  same  doom  a  poor 
insane  creature  who  had  held  up  a  dog  in  church  during  the 
mass.^  It  was  charged  against  this  unfortunate,  indeed,  that  he 
had,  besides,  as  he  was  passing  a  crucifix  to  which  the  Spanish 
sailors  in  the  Thames  were  wont  to  make  processions,  aimed  an 
arrow  at  "  the  idol  "  and,  striking  its  foot,  had  called  out  to  it  to 
defend  itself,  if  it  was  able.'' 

The  Romanists  had  "driven  on"  the  divorce  of  Anne 
"furiously,"  and  had  carried  it  before  Cromwell's  death,  which, 
apparently,  was  to  be  their  reward  for  doing  the  king  such  a 
service.  Contrary  to  all  Henry's  precedents,  he  was  left  under 
sentence  of  death  for  a  month  while  the  divorce  was  as  yet  in- 
complete, and  executed  four  days  after  it  was  settled.  On  the 
6th  July  Audley  moved  an  address  in  the  Lords  to  the  king,  to 
take  action  respecting  this  new  matrimonial  extravagance,  and 
to  this  the  Commons,  of  course,  unanimously  assented.  Henry 
thereupon  gave  them  permission  to  lay  the  matter  before  Con- 
vocation, and  next  day  Gardiner  and  Tunstal,  Cromwell's 
enemies,  harangued  both  Houses  against  the  marriage:  next 
day  they  laid  the  evidence  before  them,  and  the  same  afternoon 
Cranmer  had  the  bitter  mortification  of  being  forced,  as  ex-officio 
chairman,  to  accept  the  unanimous  assent  of  the  bishops  and 
clergy,  and  to  pronounce  the  divorce  they  had  decreed.  But 
the  Romanists  were  bent  on  sending  him  to  the  block  with 
Cromwell,  and  the  least  hesitation  would  have  been  fatal.  On 
the  loth  Gardiner  delivered  the  judgment  in  writing  to  the 
Lords,  and  enlarged  on  the  grounds  of  it.  A  bill  was  forthwith 
brought  into  the  Commons  and  passed  the  next  day — the  royal 
assent  being  given  on  the  24th,  the  last  day  of  the  session.  The 
divorced  queen  was  quite  agreeable,  and  retired  on  a  pension 

'  See  page  328,  note.  2  Hilles,  Zurich  Letters,  200. 


AD.  154a]  The  Fall  of  Cromwell.  353 

from  Parliament  of  ;^3,ooo  a  year,  equal  to  ;f 3 6,000  now. 
There  had  been  no  division  taken  on  any  subject  during  the 
session,  so  utterly  were  all,  alike,  in  terror  of  their  lives.  The 
theory  that  the  solemn  preambles  by  which  Henry  introduced 
his  worst  bills  were  accepted  as  honest,  is  a  mere  invention. 
Men  wrote  to  their  friends  that  the  statements  made  of  the 
commonalty  having  had  many  doubts  and  perplexities  respecting 
the  marriage  were  "  altogether  false,"  since  "  not  a  man  would 
have  dared  to  have  mentioned  them  had  they  existed,  which 
was  not  the  case."  As  to  the  king's  character,  they  were 
equally  uncomplimentary.*  All  that  was  said  by  Gardiner  and 
others  in  favour  of  the  divorce  was  treated  as  transparently 
untrue. 

No  fewer  than  forty-eight  new  statutes  had  been  enacted 
during  this  session.  One  moderated  the  Six  Articles  in  what 
related  to  the  marriage  of  priests  and  their  immorality.  It  had 
been  required  that  their  wives  be  put  away  at  once,  on  pain  of 
death,  but  vice  had  been  treated  as  unworthy  punishment  till 
thrice  repeated,  and  was  then  followed  by  hanging.  Offenders 
were  now  to  be  fined  for  the  first  offence ;  to  lose  one  benefice, 
if  they  had  two,  for  the  second ;  and  for  the  third,  to  forfeit  their 
property,  lose  all  preferment,  and  be  imprisoned  for  life.  "And 
yet,"  says  Hilles, "  it  does  not  appear  to  the  king  at  all '  extreme' 
still  to  hang  those  clergymen  who  marry,  or  who  retain  the 
wives  they  had  married  before  the  previous  statute."*  Another 
Act  appointed  a  clerical  commission  to  draw  up  a  fresh  state- 
ment of  what  "  should  be  believed  and  obeyed  by  all  the  king's 
subjects,"  and  also  of  the  ceremonies  to  be  observed. 

To  favour  the  pretence  that  the  Cleves  marriage  had  been 
questioned  by  the  people,  indemnity  was  granted  to  all  who  had 
spoken  against  it,  though  no  one  had  ever  attempted  to  do  so.' 
Pardon,  indeed,  »was  in  fashion  when  Henry  had  got  such  a 

>  Hille*  to  BuUinger,  Zurich  Letters,  206.        '  Ibid.,  205. 
»  Ibid.,2od. 


354  "^^  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1540. 

subsidy  as  Parliament  had  granted  him,  and  he  ice  he  was 
pleased  to  announce  a  general  forgiveness  of  all  heresies,  trea- 
sons, felonies,  &c.,  committed  before  the  ist  of  the  then 
current  month  of  July,  with  some  few  exceptions.  Among 
these,  however,  were  Cromwell,  Barnes,  Garret,  and  Jerome ; 
the  two  sons  of  the  Marquis  of  Exeter;*  Cardinal  Pole's" 
brother.  Lord  Montague ;  Sampson,  Bishop  of  Chichester ;  one 
Wilson,  "  a  zealous  papist ; "  some  priests,  and  the  Countess  of 
Salisbury,  whose  crime  was  being  a  Plantagenet,  and  the  mother 
of  Pole. 

The  deathsmen  had  a  busy  time  of  it  as  soon  as  Parliament 
rose.  Six  days  after^  its  adjournment,  and  two  days  after  the 
execution  of  Cromwell,  the  London  citizens  saw  six  men  drawn 
on  carts  to  their  death — three  of  them  Romish  priests,  con- 
demned for  opposing  the  king's  supremacy — the  other  three, 
"  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  of  no  mean  order,"  Dr.  Barnes, 
Garret,  and  Jerome.  Arrived  at  Smithfield,  the  three  former 
were  first  hung,  then  cut  down  from  the  gallows  while  still 
living,  cut  open,  and  their  bowels  drawn  out — then  beheaded 
and  quartered,  and  their  limbs  fixed  over  the  gates  of  the  city, 
their  heads  being  stuck  up  over  London  Bridge.  The  three 
clergymen,  who,  though  guilty  of  nothing  but  preaching  the 
Gospel,  had  made  themselves  obnoxious  to  Gardiner  by 
doing  so,  were,  on  the  other  hand,  burned  alive.  Kissing  each 
other  at  the  stake,  they  "  remained  in  the  fire  without  crying 
out,"  says  a  citizen,  "  but  were  as  quiet  and  patient  as  though 
they  had  felt  no  pain ;  and  thus  they  commended  their  spirits 
to  God  the  Father,  by  Jesus  Christ."  If  they  had  preached 
salvation  by  faith  and  a  holy  life,  instead  of  by  penances  pre- 
scribed by  the  Romanists,  and  thus  offended  the  king,  they  had 
publicly  asked  pardon,  and  they  had  extolled  the  royal  wisdom, 

^  Exeter  was  first  cousin  to  Henry. 

^  Pole  had  never  forgiven  the  murder  of  his  uncle,  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick, by  Henry's  father,  in  1499. 
»  July  30th,  154a. 


AD.  i54aj  The  Fall  of  Cromwell.  355 

learning,  and  mercy,  in  no  measured  terms.  But  the  bishops 
had  helped  Henry  to  his  divorce,  and  had  given  him  the  sub- 
sidy, and  it  would  gratify  them  to  give  them  three  victims  to 
bum  at  once.^  It  made  up  in  part  for  his  coquetting  with  the 
Reformers  in  the  past.  Barnes  protested  at  the  stake  that  he 
did  not  know  why  he  was  burned,  for  neither  he  nor  his  fellow- 
sufferers  had  been  tried.  But  men  did  not  care  to  inquire  so 
much  about  these  things,  as. they  had  done  formerly,  "for  it  is 
now,"  says  Hilles, "  no  novelty  among  us  to  see  men  slain,  hung, 
quartered,  or  beheaded — some  for  trifling  expressions,  explained 
as  spoken  against  the  king,  others  for  the  Pope's  supremacy ; 
some  for  one  thing,  some  for  another.'"'  The  blame  of  the 
burnings  was  ascribed  wholly  to  Gardiner. 

Amidst  all  this  bloodthirsty  confusion,  however,  the  general 
pardon  had  one  good  result — ^it  delivered  Latimer  and  Shaxton 
from  imminent  death.  Latimer  had  been  kept  in  the  Bishop  of 
Chichester's  i>alace,  in  detention,  but  from  the  time  of  Samp- 
son's imprisonment  in  the  Tower,  he  had  had  more  liberty. 
Always  the  same  fearless,  true-hearted  man,  he  alone,  of  all  the 
prominent  Reformers,  stood  by  Dr.  Barnes  in  his  troubles. 
"  Many  persons,"  says  the  martyr,  in  probably  the  last  letter  he 
ever  wrote,  "  approve  my  statements,  yet  no  one  stands  forward 
except  Latimer."'  But  the  freedom  regained  by  the  pardon  of 
July  was  not  unconditional.  "  How  favourable  to  them  [Latimer 
and  Shaxton]  the  king  now  is,"  writes  Hilles  to  his  friend, "and 
how  he  appreciates  their  sound  and  pure  gospel,  is  evident  from 
this,  that  he  has  not  only  prohibited  them  from  preaching,  but 
also  from  coming  within  ten  or  fifteen  miles  of  our  two  vmi- 
versities,  the  City  of  London,  or  their  own  dioceses.  O  atrocious 
deed,  thus  to  drive  away  faithful  shepherds  from  their  flocks, 
and  intrude  ravenous  wolves  in  their  stead !  God  will  not,  I 
hope,  endure  this  tyranny  much  longer."* 

'  Zurich  Letters,  21a  •  Ibid.,  211.     See  also  Buinet,  i.  394. 

'  Ibid.,  page  617.  *  Original  Letters,  215. 


356  The  English  Reformation.  Lad.  1540, 

Meanwhile  the  spiritual  condition  of  England  was  wretched. 
Popery  without  the  Pope  was  in  full  possession  of  the  land,  so 
far  as  Gardiner  could  effect  it.  Every  hymn  and  every  prayer  was 
in  Latin.  The  thousand  ceremonies  of  the  old  ritual  obscured 
the  simple  Gospel.  There  is  "  such  a  want  of  sincere  ministers 
of  the  Word,"  writes  Hilles, "  that  a  man  may  travel  from  the  east 
of  ]Lngland  to  the  west,  and  from  the  north  to  the  south,  with- 
out being  able  to  discover  a  single  preacher  who,  out  of  a  pure 
heart  and  faith  unfeigned,  is  seeking  the  glory  of  God," 

Cranmer's  position  was  now  doubly  perilous  since  Crom- 
well's death,  for  the  Romanists  spared  no  efforts  to  destroy  him 
that  their  course  might  be  clear.  Every  one  expected  that  he 
would  go  next.  A  revision  of  the  Manual  known  as  "The  Insti- 
tution of  a  Christian  Man,"  published  in  1537,  had  been  ordered 
by  the  king,  and  it  was  hoped  that  Cranmer  might  be  brought 
within  the  grasp  of  the  law  by  the  opinions  he  would  doubtless 
express  in  his  share  in  it.  Gardiner  himself  was  left  out  of  the 
commission,  Henry  declaring  that  he  was  a  "  turbulent,  wilful 
man,  and  so  much  addicted  to  the  Popish  party,  that  they  could 
have  had  no  quiet  in  their  consultations  if  he  had  joined  them."^ 
He  was  not,  however,  necessarily  idle  in  the  matter.  As  the 
evil  genius  of  the  Reformation,  he  could  not  keep  from  plots 
against  it. 

Twenty-seven  questions  were  drawn  up  by  Cranmer,  to  which 
he  and  the  other  bishops  were  to  write  answers,  and  from  his 
own  we  learn  what  his  belief  really  was  at  this  time,''  and  what 
our  Church  would  have  been  had  he  been  left  free  to  influence 
its  standards. 

Thus  in  respect  to  the  sacraments  he  saw  no  reason  to  restrict 
them  to  seven,  since  Scripture  does  not  fix  their  number  and 
the  Fathers  never  limit  them  to  seven.  For  his  part  he  only 
found  Scriptural  warrant  for  calling  Baptism  and  the  Eucharist 
sacraments.     This  was  a  direct  invalidation  of  the  five  upheld 

'  Strype,  i.  174,  «  Strype,  Appendix,  vol.  i.  174. 


A.D.  154^.]  The  Fall  of  Cromwell.  357 

by  the  Old  Party, — "  Penance,  Matrimony,  Confirmation,  Orders, 
and  Extreme  Unction."  As  to  bishops  and  priests,  he  still  held 
that  they  needed  no  consecration,  their  election  or  appointment 
by  the  crown  or  otherwise  being  sufficient.  So  utterly  did  he 
ignore  "Apostolic  succession."  Laymen,  if  educated,  might 
lawfully  preach  and  teach  where  there  were  no  bishops 
and  priests.  A  man  was  not  bound  by  Scripture  to  confess 
to  a  priest.  The  limits  of  priestly  power  in  excommuni- 
cation were  those  of  the  laws  of  the  land.  In  all  cases  he 
must  be  in  harmony  with  these.  Extreme  Unction,  he  affirmed, 
is  not  spoken  of  in  Scripture  or  in  any  ancient  author.  He  says 
nothing  against  the  Real  Presence,  for  he  still  clung  to  it,  but  in 
almost  everything  else  he  and  Gardiner's  party  were  at  opposite 
poles.  He  repudiated  sacerdotalism  ;  they  held  it  the  essence 
of  Christianity.  To  have  spoken  so  bravely  at  such  a  time, 
shows  a  moral  courage  rare  in  any  age. 

The  Old  Party  had  drawn  up  opinions  of  a  very  different 
kind,  and  pressed  Cranmer.  to  accept  them,  hinting  that  they 
expressed  the  sentiments  of  the  king.  Every  one  yielded  except 
him,  but  he  could  not  be  moved.  He  did  not  leave  his  enemies, 
however,  to  accuse  him  to  Henry,  but  went  to  him  himself,  and 
secured  his  support,  so  that  Gardiner  had  the  mortification  of 
seeing  his  plot  miscarry.  He  had  counted  on  Cranmer's  being 
thrown  into  the  Tower,  which  seemed  so  likely  that  many  wagers 
had  been  made  in  London  about  it.* 

The  New  Manual,  when  it  appeared,  differed  little  from  that 
published  three  years  before,  and,  even  in  its  variations,  must  be 
regarded  as  the  expression  of  Henry's  opinions  rather  than  of 
those  of  the  bishops,  who  could  only  accept  what  their  supreme 
head  prescribed.  Justification  by  faith  as  opposed  to  human 
merits  was  again  asserted.  The  definition  given  of  the  "  Catholic 
Church"  was  that  "it  comprehended  all  assemblies  of  men  in  the 
whole  world  that  received  the  faith  of  Christ,"  and  that  they 

'  Strype,  L  172. 


358  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1540. 

became  members  of  it  by  "  a  unity  of  love  and  brotherly  agree- 
ment together."  Episcopal  ordination  was  declared  necessary ; 
baptism  was  re-stated  as  in  the  former  book.^  Penance  was 
made  to  consist  in  the  absolution  of  priests,  which  was  now, 
therefore,  held  necessary;  not  merely,  as  before,  desirable.  The 
doctrine  of  Apostolic  succession  was  upheld  ;  Confirmation  was 
said  to  have  been  instituted  by  the  Apostles.  Transubstantiation, 
private  masses,  and  communion  in  one  kind  were  asserted; 
Extreme  Unction  was  said  to  have  been  an  Apostolic  com- 
mand. Images  were  to  be  honoured  only  for  the  sake  of 
those  whom  they  represented,  and  therefore  the  preferring  one 
to  another,  and  making  pilgrimages  and  offerings  to  them, 
was  condemned.  Censing  them  and  kneeling  to  them  were, 
however,  permitted,  but  the  people  were  to  be  taught  that  this 
was  done  only  to  the  honour  of  God.  Invocation  of  saints  was 
allowed.  The  Lord's  Prayer  was  explained,  and  it  was  said 
that  the  people  ought  to  pray  only  in  English,  to  excite  their 
devotion,  though  Latin  alone  was  used  in  the  services  of  the 
Church,  Good  works  were  necessary,  but  not  the  superstitious 
inventions  of  monks  and  friars  ;  rather  works  flowing  from  the 
love  of  God  in  the  heart.  Prayer  for  the  dead  was  treated 
almost  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  former  book. 

A  new  "Primer  "  was  also  issued,  but  it  was  much  like  the 
former  one.  A  few  collects  and  offices  were  removed  from  the 
Missals  and  Breviaries,  but  so  few  that  the  old  books  were  still 
used  in  the  churches.  A  few  years  before  the  bishops  had 
resisted  the  least  change ;  now,  thanks  to  Cranmer's  influence 
with  Henry,  they  had  to  endure  such  innovations  as  must  have 
been  abhorrent  to  them.  Yet  they  had  still  retained  more  than 
they  yielded,  and  hoped  in  the  end  to  win  back  all  their  lost 
ground,  if  they  could  gain  over  the  king.  They  little  knew  the 
revolution  in  the  thoughts  of  men  at  large  which  had  been 
caused  by  the  possibility  of  any  change  at  aU  in  religion  having 

'  See  pages  285,  307. 


A.D.  I540.]  The  Fall  of  Crotmucll.  359 

been  admitted.  The  authority  of  the  Church  had  rested  on  its 
absolute  trustworthiness  as  the  voice  of  God  to  mankind.  To 
confess  the  necessity  of  revising  even  the  least  of  its  teachings, 
was  to  break  for  ever  the  spell  it  had  held  over  the  human  mind, 
and  to  sanction  man's  right  to  question  whatever  demanded 
belief.  Even  already  this  had  become  an  ineradicable  principle 
in  the  English  people. 

The  cause  of  the  Reformation  was,  indeed,  assured  by  the 
continued  freedom  of  the  Scriptures.  The  bishops  had  never 
finished  their  translation,  yet  edition  after  edition  of  Tyndale's 
version  had  been  published,  and  this  year,  1540,  amidst  several 
different  issues,  came  one  so  noble  that  it  was  known  as  the 
large  Bible.  It,  also,  was  Cromwell's  gift  from  his  bloody  grave 
to  the  nation,  for  it  was  printed  from  the  types  and  presses  he 
had  rescued,  the  year  before,  from  the  Inquisition  in  Paris. 
"Gardiner  and  his  fellows  did  mightily  stomach  and  malign 
the  printing  thereof,"'  but  Henry  was  in  its  favour.  Many 
parish  priests  had  neglected  to  get  a  copy  of  the  former  edi- 
tions, for  fear  the  people  might  be  made  heretics,  but  a  new 
order  was  issued  requiring  them  under  a  fine  to  have  one  put  in 
every  church  before  All  Saints'  day,  1541.  The  people  were, 
however,  to  read  it  "  humbly,  meekly,  reverently,  and  obedi- 
ently, not  with  high  and  loud  voices,  in  time  ot  the  celebration 
of  mass  and  other  divine  services  in  the  church."  Nor  were 
htey  to  take  upon  them  "  any  common  disputation,  argument,  or 
exposition  of  the  mysteries  therein  contained,  but  for  their  per- 
sonal instruction,  edification,  and  amendment  of  life."  Even 
Bonner,  now  Bishop  of  London,  had  to  set  up  six  Bibles  in  St. 
Paul's,  though  he  had  already  since  Cromwell's  death  dropped 
the  mask,  and  come  out  as  a  zealous  Romanist.  But  he  had  at 
least  the  pleasure  of  having  filled  the  prisons  with  "  Gospellers," 
and  of  having  burned  a  poor  boy  of  fifteen  at  Smithfield,  for 
having  said    something    against  the   Real   Presence.      Three 

•  Stiype,  i.  191. 


360  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1540. 

besides  were  in  these  months  burned  at  Salisbury,  and  two  at 
Lincoln  in  one  day  ;  and  the  prisons  in  many  places  were  once 
more  tenanted  by  unhappy  Protestants. 

On  the  same  day,  and  it  may  be  at  the  same  hour,  as  Crom- 
well's head  fell  on  Tower  Hill — on  July  28th — Henry  married 
his  fifth  wife,  Catherine  Howard,  four  days  after  his  divorce 
from  Anne  of  Cleves.  He  had  married  Jane  Seymour  within  a 
few  hours  after  Anne  Boleyn's  execution,  and  it  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  the  death  of  Cromwell  would  secure  even  as 
much  respect.  It  did  not  even  give  him  a  second  thought. 
He  had  simply  thrown  his  great  minister  to  the  lions,  to  turn 
off  from  himself  to  his  instrument  the  unpopularity  of  acts  in 
\vhich  Cromwell  had  had  no  choice  but  to  obey. 


mm 


^m!(- 


CHAPTER   XXI. 


ENGLAND  IN  THE  YEARS  1542-3. 


THE  later  years  of  Henry's  reign  have  little  to  record 
respecting  the  Reformation.  The  master  spirit  was 
gone,  and  things  drifted  on  very  much  as  he  left  them  till 
Henry  died.  Politics,  indeed,  had  perhaps  a  part  in  this  state 
of  things,  for  matters  grew  stormy  abroad  very  soon  after  Crom- 
well's death.  Francis  threatened  a  renewal  of  war  with  the 
emperor,  and  kept  England  uneasy  in  the  north  by  his  close 
alliance  with  James  V.  of  Scotland,  son  of  Henry's  sister :  a 
Scotch  war  soon  followed,  and  before  long  another  broke  out 
also  with  France. 

Meanwhile,  the  Romanists  had  a  queen  of  the  old  faith,  and 
expected  a  final  triumph.  Even  Henry  became  devout  in  the 
Romish  sense,  in  honour  of  her,  celebrating  all  the  saints'  days, 
and  receiving  communion  co;istantly.  Francis,  in  utter  madness 
of  crime,  but  strange  to  say  with  the  connivance  of  the  Pope, 
proposed  to  call  in  the  Turk  as  an  ally  against  the  emperor ; 
and  Henry,  caring  nothing  for  the  German  Protestants  now, 
abandoned  them,  to  join  Charles  once  more.  Cranmer  had 
established  professors  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  in  all  the  cathe- 
drals, to  secure  a  learned  ministry,  but  Gardiner  and  his  party 
managed  to  break  up  the  arrangement.  The  superstitious 
practices  of  the  past  were  everywhere  enforced :  creeping  to 
the  cross  on  Good  Friday ;  carrying  blessed  palm-branches  on 


362  The  English  Reformation,  [a.d.  154?. 

Palm  Sunday ;  carrying  candles  at  Candlemas/  and  many 
others  ;  and  penalties  for  their  neglect  were  exacted.  Every- 
where there  was  a  reaction,  and  the  true  spirit  of  the  Old  Party 
showed  itself.  Bonner,  especially,  rioted  in  his  new  power,  for 
he  had  come  out  in  his  true  colours  the  moment  Cromwell  fell. 
His  first  achievement  had  been  the  burning  of  the  poor  boy 
Makins.'^  Presently,  202  persons  were  prosecuted  in  thirty-nine 
London  parishes  for  offences  which  mark  the  times.  They  were 
such  as  not  coming  to  confession ;  not  carrying  a  palm  on  Palm 
Sunday ;  eating  flesh  in  Lent ;  not  praying  to  saints ;  burying 
persons  without  funeral  masses ;  eager  reasoning  on  the  New 
Doctrine ;  not  creeping  to  the  cross  on  Good  Friday ;  entertain- 
ing Barnes,  Garret,  Jerome,  and  Latimer;  reasoning  against 
the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  or  saying  that  it  was  a  good  thing, 
but  not  very  God ;  with  others  similar. 

But  the  fierceness  of  the  bishops  defeated  its  own  ends.  All 
the  prisons  in  London  could  not  hold  the  accused,  and  they 
had  to  be  confined  in  any  building  that  could  be  got.  It  was 
impossible  to  proceed  against  so  many,  and  Henry,  in  the  end, 
discharged  them  all. 

Yet  others  were  not  so  fortunate.  One  Protestant  priest  had 
to  bear  a  faggot  for  saying  in  a  sermon,  "  If  you  ask  me  when 
we  will  leave  preaching  only  Christ,  I  would  say,  when  they 
leave  preaching  that  works  have  merit,  and  when  they  suffer 
Christ  to  be  a  whole  satisfier  and  means  to  our  justification."' 
Dr.  Crome,  a  prominent  Reformer,  was  commanded  to  preach 
that  the  mass  was  profitable  for  both  the  dead  and  the  living. 
He  read  the  king's  order  on  the  appointed  day,  after  preaching 

'  Candlemas  was  established  by  the  Emperor  Justinian  in  542  to 
entreat  the  help  of  Maiy  in  the  disastrous  circumstances  of  the  times. 
It  was  celebrated  on  Feb.  2nd,  the  fortieth  day  after  Christmas,  and  thus 
marked  the  close  of  the  Virgin's  Purification.  Simeon  on  that  day  spoke 
of  Christ  as  a  light  to  lighten  the  heathen,  and  hence  consecrated  candles 
were  carried,  lighted,  in  church  processions,  in  vast  numbers,  on  IL 
^  Page  359.  '  Foxe,  v.  449. 


A.D.  1542]  England  in  tJie  Years  1 542  -3.  363 

the  Gospel  as  before,  in  its  simplicity,  and  was  forthwith 
silenced. 

One  case  in  which  Bonner  figures  was  doubtless  a  sample  of 
many.  A  fine  tall  young  man,  noted  for  his  good  voice,  had 
been  put  forward  by  the  people  to  read  aloud  to  them  from'  one  of 
the  Bibles  chained  in  St.  Paul's.  His  doing  so  was  strictly  within 
the  law,  but  Bonner  committed  him  to  Newgate ;  when  there  he 
was  chained  to  the  wall  by  the  neck,  the  arms,  and  the  legs, 
and  finally  thrown  into  a  foul  dungeon  and  loaded  with  irons, 
so  that  he  died  eight  days  after.* 

May  witnessed  another  of  the  hideous  legal  murders  so  peculiar 
to  this  reign,  that  of  the  aged  Countess  of  Salisbury,  apparently 
for  no  crime  but  being  the  mother  of  the  Poles.  In  August. 
Henry  set  out  for  the  north  to  meet  James  V.,  his  nephew,  but 
the  Scotch  bishops  prevented  the  interview,  fearing  that  their 
king  would  be  tainted  with  the  new  English  ideas.  But  their 
caution  was  of  little  avail,  for  many  of  the  Scotch  who  came  in 
contact  with  the  king's  escort,  eagerly  adopted  their  ecclesiastical 
notions,  and  the  entrance  of  the  Reformation  into  Scotland  was 
thus  promoted.  Hitherto  his  new  marriage  had  so  delighted 
Henry,  that  on  his  return  to  London  he  made  a  public  thanks- 
giving at  St.  Paul's,  for  God  having  given  him  so  admirable  a 
wife.  But  his  happiness  was  soon  to  be  overclouded.  Cranmer 
had  been  told  of  her  having  been  guilty  of  immorality,  at  least 
before  her  marriage,  and  as  concealment  of  such  a  thing  would 
have  been  treason,  he  necessarily  communicated  it  to  the  king. 
Unfortunately,  it  was  only  too  true,  as  the  unhappy  queen  her- 
self confessed,  though  she  strenuously  denied  any  misconduct 
since  her  marriage  to  Henry.  Always  ferocious,  Henry's  fury 
at  finding  himself  involved  in  another  matrimonial  scandal  knew 
no  bounds.  Not  only  the  guilty  men,  but  the  relatives  and 
servants  of  the  queen  were  arrested,  to  the  number  of  thirteen. 
On  the  loth  December,  one  of  the  offenders  who  had  confessed 

'  Foxe,  V.  451. 


364  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1542. 

his  guilt,  Culpepper,  a  kinsman  of  the  queen's  mother,  was 
beheaded  at  Tyburn,  and  an  official  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's 
house,  one  Derham,  was  hanged,  drawn' — that  is,  disem- 
bowelled— and  then  beheaded  and  quartered.^ 

ParHament  was  convened  on  the  i6th  January,  1542,  to  take 
on  itself  the  odium  of  condemning  the  queen,  for,  since  Wolsey's 
fall,  the  former  system  of  dispensing  with  parliaments  had  been 
exchanged  for  that  of  doing  everything  through  them.  Matters 
which  had  never  before  been  submitted  to  the  Houses,  were 
nowadays  left  to  their  action.  It  was  by  an  act  of  Parliament 
that  England  had  been  separated  from  the  Pope.  Parliament 
had  broken  the  power  of  Convocation  and  made  the  Church 
wholly  dependent  on  the  State ;  it  had  defined  the  creed  to  be 
accepted  by  all ;  it  had  confiscated  nearly  a  third  of  the  land  of 
England  to  the  crown,  in  despoiling  the  abbeys,  &c. ;  it  had 
fixed  the  succession  to  the  throne  ;  decided  the  validity  of 
the  king's  marriages  and  the  legitimacy  of  his  children,  and  it 
had  to  attaint  all  who  offended  him,  whether  ministers,  nobles, 
or  queens.  It  had,  in  fact,  become  so  utterly  servile,  that  it  might 
be  safely  trusted  to  follow  Henry's  will  with  a  degrading  docility. 
Its  members  did  obeisance,  on  entering,  to  the  empty  throne  ; 
they  bowed  low  each  time  the  king's  name  was  mentioned  in  the 
proceedings.  But  it  was  kept  up  because  a  varnish  of  legality 
was  given,  by  making  use  of  it,  to  the  worst  acts  of  tyranny,  and 
the  blame  of  them  diverted  from  the  crown. 

In  his  opening  speech.  Chancellor  Audley  declared  with  the 
flattery  becoming  an  Oriental  despotism,  that  God  had  anointed 
Henry  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  his  fellows,  but  he  had 
presently  to  announce  the  queen's  offence,  which  was  sad 
enough.  Both  Houses  were  afraid  to  move  in  the  matter  till 
formal  indemnity  had  been  granted  them  for  what  might  be  said 
or  done.  On  the  i  ith  February,  the  bill  of  attainder  was  passed, 
condemning  the  queen   and  Lady  Rochford,   widow  of  Anne 

^  Stale  Papers,  i.  707. 


A.0. 1542.]  England  in  the  Years  1 542-3.  365 

Boleyn's  brother,  who  had  been  beheaded  mainly  through  her 
perjuries.  The  Duchess  of  Norfolk,  the  queen's  grandmother; 
the  Countess  of  Bridgewater,  her  daughter;  Lord  William 
Howard,  and  his  wife — all  Norfolks — were  also  condemned  for 
misprision  of  treason,  and  the  next  day  the  unhappy  queen  and 
Lady  Rochford  were  beheaded. 

Not  contented  with  such  sweeping  attainders.  Parliament  went 
to  the  almost  incredible  length  of  making  it  law  that  any  one 
whom  the  king  might  marry  would  be  guilty  of  treason,  should 
she  not  disclose  beforehand  any  previous  offence.  No  wonder 
that  Henry  found  no  more  candidates  for  his  hand  among  the 
the  young,  and  that  he  had  next  to  take  a  widow. 

Spoliation  and  destruction  were  still  active  amidst  all  these 
domestic  troubles.  On  his  journey  to  the  north,  Henry  had 
noticed  that  some  shrines  of  saints  had  escaped  the  general 
destruction  he  had  commanded,  and  now  issued  a  proclamation 
ordering  their  utter  removal.  Not  a  stone  was  to  be  left  to  tell 
where  they  had  been.  Parliament  also  passed  an  act  repealing 
all  statutes  of  hospitals,  colleges,  and  other  similar  foundations, 
to  make  their  surrender  to  the  king  more  easy.^ 

Things  were,  indeed,  even  yet,  far  from  settled,  and  it  was 
easy  to  see  that  civil  war  was  only  hindered  from  breaking  out, 
between  the  Old  and  the  New  Faiths,  as  it  did  afterwards  in 
France  and  Germany,  by  the  vigorous  action  of  the  king. 
Shortly  after  the  execution  of  the  Countess  of  Salisbury,  Henry 
had  himself  to  set  out  for  the  northern  counties,  with  a  thousand 
men  and  a  great  number  of  tents,  in  the  French  fashion,  to  put 
down  another  outbreak,  under  Sir  John  Neville,  supported  by  a 
number  of  the  ex-monks ;  but  the  rising  was  quickly  suppressed, 
and  the  leaders  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered,  as  usual,  in  June,  at 
London  and  York.' 

Such  frequent  insurrections,  with  the  prevalence  of  violent 
crime  and  lawlessness  of  all  kinds  from  the  roving  bands  of 

'  October  4th,  1541.  *  Zurich  Letters,  22a 


366  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  154a. 

homeless  peasants,  discharged  soldiers,  and  expelled  monks; 
the  ferocity  of  the  laws  passed  to  repress  them,  and  the  multi- 
tude of  executions,  were  fast  lowering  the  character  of  England. 
The  gross  immorality  of  Henry's  court,  as  revealed  by  the  story 
of  the  last  queen,  deepened  the  shadow.  The  state  of  things 
in  all  ranks  was  evidently  as  bad  as  it  could  be.  The  judicial 
murder  of  a  grey-haired  matron  like  the  Countess  of  Salisbury 
showed  a  monstrous  wickedness  even  on  the  throne,  which  was 
copied  only  too  closely  by  those  beneath.  Shortly  before  the 
execution  of  Culpepper,  a  chamberlain  of  the  king,  for  his  guilty 
relations  to  the  queen,  Henry  had  pardoned  him  for  the  murder 
of  a  park-keeper  who  tried  to  protect  his  wife  against  his  violence 
and  that  of  his  attendants.  Lord  Dacres  had  been  hanged  in 
June  for  the  murder  of  a  poor  man  for  preventing  his  trespassing 
on  a  deer  forest.  The  queen  had  beyond  question  lived  a 
shameless  life  before  marriage,  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's 
household  had  been  compromised  by  her  immorality.  Bourchier, 
Earl  of  Essex,  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  in  1539,  had  been 
"a  most  cruel  tyrant."  Bonner  and  Gardiner  were  men  of 
impure  lives.  Gardiner  himself  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  a 
bishop.  Bonner  was  illegitimate  for  two  generations  back.  A  set 
of  new  men,  the  Russells,  the  Cavendishes,  the  Wriothesleys,  and 
others,  were  rising  to  immense  wealth  by  obtaining  Church  estates. 
So  recklessly  prodigal  indeed  had  been  the  grants  of  monasteries 
and  abbey  lands  to  the  courtiers,  that  something  like  a  fifth  of 
the  actual  land  in  the  kingdom  was  in  this  way  transferred  from 
the  Church  to  nobles  and  gentry.  The  unspeakable  corruption 
of  the  Church  had,  in  fact,  reacted  on  the  nation,  and  had 
reproduced  itself  in  all  classes  of  society.  No  wonder  that  there 
is  much  to  regret  in  the  transition  from  such  a  past  to  the  better 
days  of  the  new  era.  The  moral  chaos  amidst  which  the  Refor- 
mation had  to  create  order  and  beauty  yielded  only  slowly,  and 
often  seemed  for  a  time  to  regain  its  sway. 

Yet  the  selfish  and  unmeasured  corruption  in  high  places 
was  destined  to  be  overruled  by  God  for  the  ultimate  growth  of 


A.D.  1542.]  England  in  the  Years  1 542-3.  367 

English  liberty,  civil  and  religious.  A  new  nobility  was  being 
created  by  the  squandered  wealth  of  the  Church,  which,  here- 
after, would  overpower  the  despotism  of  the  crown,  now  left,  for 
the  time,  without  a  counterpoise.  For  the  old  nobility  had  been 
well-nigh  swept  away  by  war  or  the  headsman's  axe.  In  the 
next  reigns  it  was  by  the  interested  support  of  the  men  who  had 
received  the  largest  shares  of  Church  land  that  Protestantism — 
which  means  spiritual  freedom — was  enabled  to  establish  itself 
firmly  in  England. 

The  struggle  of  the  two  parties  in  Convocation  was  still  as 
bitter  as  ever.  Cranmer  managed  to  get  a  book^of  Homilies 
printed  to  help  preachers,  and  issued  an  order  that  all  preachers 
must  have  licenses ;  some,  meanwhile,  being  given  for  the 
whole  country,  to  those  who  were  most  worthy.  Preaching  had 
fallen  into  disuse  under  the  unreformed  Church,  there  being 
very  little  except  in  Lent,  when  the  friars  favoured  the  people 
with  their  glorification  of  saints,  relics,  and  images,  illustrated 
by  monstrous  legends.  The  Reformed  preachers,  on  the  con- 
trary, used  the  pulpit  assiduously,  and,  by  pointing  to  Christ  as 
the  only  Saviour  and  the  necessity  of  a  holy  life,  created  an 
enthusiasm  like  that  which  the  friars  themselves  had  awakened 
in  their  early  days,  while  as  yet  poor  and  evangelical.  But  the 
pulpit  was  not  the  only  agency  turned  against  the  old  system. 
Sacred  plays  and  interludes  in  the  churches  had  for  centuries 
been  in  vogue  with  the  friars,  and  these  were  now  often  repro- 
duced and  turned  into  satires  on  prevalent  ecclesiastical  corrup- 
tions, to  the  infinite  annoyance  of  the  Romanists,  who  very 
reasonably  had  such  attacks  on  them  prohibited. 

The  free  circulation  of  the  Bible  was  a  sore  offence  to  Gar- 
diner and  his  party,  but,  as  they  could  not  stop  it  directly,  they 
were  forced  to  use  stratagem.  Although  a  new  edition  had 
been  published  the  year  before,  by  authority,  bearing  the  names 
of  Tunstal  and  Heath,  they  clamoured  for  a  fresh  one.  But  a 
proposal  to  apportion  the  work  anew  among  the  bishops  was 
felt  to  be  only  a  pretext  for  fresh  delay.  The  fall  of  Catherine 
17 


368  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  i5«. 

Howard  had,  in  fact,  made  it  more  needful  than  ever  to  resist 
any  reformation,  and  for  this  end  the  suppression  of  the  Bible 
was  eagerly  desired,  especially  by  Gardiner.  Feeling  that  he 
could  not  bring  back  the  Vulgate  at  once,  he  proposed  to  retain 
as  much  of  it  as  he  could  in  the  new  translation,  to  make  the 
sense  uninteUigible  to  the  people,  and  thus  disgust  them  with 
it  altogether.  A  hundred  and  two  Latin  words,  he  advised, 
should  be  retained  "  for  the  sake  of  their  native  meaning  and 
their  dignity."  Among  these  were  ecclesia,  poenitentia,  pon- 
tifex,  holocaustum,  simulacrum,  episcopus,  confessio,  hostia, 
and  others.  Some  words  identified  with  the  old  Romish  dogmas 
were  to  be  retained  because  they  were  so,  or,  as  Fuller  pithily 
says  of  the  word  penance — "  because  it  brought  much  gain  to 
the  priests  " — "  they  were  desirous  to  keep  it  because  it  kept 
them."  To  their  consternation,  Henry  would  no  longer  be 
mocked,  but  sent  word  that  the  translation  was  to  be  left  to  the 
universities.  In  vain  they  protested  that  the  learning  of  the 
land  was  mainly  in  Convocation ;  that  the  universities  had 
decayed  greatly  of  late,  and  had  only  young  men.  They  had 
to  submit. 

Affairs  had  become  strained  between  England  and  Scotland 
since  James's  failure  to  meet  Henry  at  York,  and  at  last  led  to 
a  collision  at  Solway  Moss,  in  which  the  Scotch  were  utterly 
defeated.  The  Romish  clergy  of  Scotland  clung  to  the  French 
alliance,  in  hopes  of  keeping  out  the  religious  innovations  of 
England,  and  even  lent  James  money  for  the  war,  but  he  died 
of  a  broken  heart  not  long  after  his  defeat,  leaving  a  daughter 
— the  future  ill-starred  queen  Mary — only  seven  days  old,  as  his 
successor.  Henry,  eager  to  secure  his  northern  frontier  for  the 
future,  forthwith  proposed  that  this  infant  should,  hereafter,  be 
married  to  his  son  Edward,  and  dismissed  his  prisoners  on  their 
promising  that  they  would  promote  the  scheme.  But  whatever 
they  did  in  that  way,  they  proved  of  untold  influence  for  good 
in  another.  In  Henry's  camp  they  had  become  largely  in- 
fluenced by  reforming  ideas,  and  their  return  was  the  first  great 


AD.  1543]  England  in  the  Years  \ ^^2- "x^.  369 

impulse  towards  Refomiation  in  Scotland.  Cranmer,  also,  had 
a  hand  in  this  good  work,  by  entertaining  some  of  the  leading 
Scotch,  who  went  back  ardent  for  the  New  Doctrine. 

The  loss  Henry  had  suffered  by  the  death  of  Cromwell  made 
itself  constantly  more  apparent,  and  of  this  Cranmer  had  the 
benefit  in  his  efforts  for  the  truth.  But  he  had  at  the  best  a 
most  difficult  task.  Parliament  and  Convocation  were  again 
summoned  for  January,  1543,  for  war  was  breaking  out  with 
France,  Henry  and  the  emperor  acting  in  alliance.  Once  more, 
enormous  subsidies  were  demanded  and  granted.  Goods  were 
taxed  from  4d.  to  2s.  on  the  pound  sterling :  land  from  8d.  to 
3s.  on  the  same  value,  foreigners  paying  double  these  rates.  It 
was  still  worse  with  the  clergy,  for  they  had  to  pay  6s.  in  the 
pound  in  three  years.  The  cost  of  the  Scotch  war  and  of  the 
approaching  French  one  were  the  plausible  reasons.  In  return 
for  this  bounty  the  Reformation  was  to  receive  another  blow. 

The  opposition  to  the  circulation  and  reading  of  the  Bible 
had  been  continued  so  bitterly,  and  the  results  on  the  people  of 
the  liberty  enjoyed  had  been  painted  in  such  a  light,  that  Henry 
at  last  yielded  Gardiner  a  qualified  triumph.  An  Act  was  per- 
mitted to  be  passed  suppressing  the  Bibles  bearing  Tyndale's 
name  ;  but  as  they  continued  to  be  issued  under  the  names  of 
others,  including  even  Tunstal  and  Heath,  the  mischief  was 
more  apparent  than  real.  All  notes  and  prefaces  were  to  be 
obliterated  in  every  copy  of  other  editions — the  clergy  com- 
plaining bitterly  of  them  as  Lutheran.  Henceforth,  no  one 
was  to  read  the  Scripture  to  others,  either  in  any  church,  or 
elsewhere,  without  license.  But  private  reading  was  permitted 
to  some  classes.  Noblemen  and  gentlemen  might  read  it  to 
their  families,  in  their  houses,  gardens,  or  orchards :  merchants 
might  read  it  alone  and  privately,  and  women,  if  of  noble  or 
gentle  blood,  had  the  same  limited  privilege.  Apprentices, 
working  people,  and  indeed  the  whole  mass  of  the  nation,  were 
strictly  prohibited  from  opening  or  hearing  it  under  pain,  first 
of  imprisonment,  and  next   of  whipping.    These  miserable 


370  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1543, 

restrictions  remained  in  force  till  Henry's  death.  Priestcraft 
had  succeeded  in  once  more  putting  itself  in  the  place  of  God's 
Word. 

The  images  of  the  saints  were  still  decked  out  in  the  churches, 
like  those  of  the  Virgin  Mary  on  the  Continent,  in  all  the  show 
of  silk  and  gilding,  illuminated  by  wax  tapers,  so  dear  to  the 
Romanizers  of  the  present  day.  This,  Cranmer  managed  to 
prohibit,  though  the  prohibition  was  only  too  generally  over- 
looked. An  attempt  to  reform  the  ritual  and  purge  the  service- 
book  of  some  of  its  worthless  legends,  and  especially  of  the  name 
of  the  Pope,  was  keenly  resisted,  and  led  to  insignificant  results, 
but  in  one  direction  the  lonely  apostle  of  a  spiritual  faith  was 
able  to  effect  a  momentous  advance.  Hitherto,  as  the  preface 
to  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer  tells  us,  "  when  any  book  of  the 
Bible  was  begun"  to  be  read  in  the  public  service,  "  after  three 
or  four  chapters  were  read  out,  all  the  rest  were  unread.  And 
in  this  sort  the  book  of  Isaiah  was  begun  in  Advent,  and  the 
book  of  Genesis  in  Septuagesima ;  but  they  were  only  begun, 
and  never  read  through  :  after  like  sort  were  other  books  of 
Scripture  used."  It  was  now  ordered,  thanks  to  Cranmer,  that 
two  chapters  of  the  Bible  should  be  read  in  English  by  the 
minister  during  each  service,  in  regular  succession,  till  the 
whole  of  the  book  was  finished.  Henry  had  a  clear  sense  of  the 
necessity  of  the  Scriptures  being  kept  before  the  people,  to 
prevent  their  going  back  wholly  to  Rome,  and  his  will  gave 
Cranmer's  wishes  force,  in  spite  of  the  Old  Party. 

They  were  able,  however,  to  resist  any  serious  reforms  in  the 
ritual,  and  it  went  on,  to  quote  again  from  the  preface  to  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  with  a  mosaic  of  "  uncertain  stories 
and  legends,  with  multitudes  of  responds,  verses,  vain  repetitions, 
commemorations,  and  synodals."  Everything  was  "read  in 
Latin  to  the  people,"  which  they  did  not  understand.  Only  "  a 
few  of  the  Psalms  were  daily  said,  and  the  rest  utterly  omitted. 
Moreover,  the  number  and  hardness  of  the  rules  called  the  Pie, 
and  the  manifold  changings  of  the  service,  was  the  cause,  that 


A.D.  IS431  England  in  the  Years  I  ^/^i-'^  371 

to  turn  the  book  only,  was  so  hard  and  intricate  a  matter,  that 
many  times  there  was  more  business  to  find  out  what  should  be 
read,  than  to  read  it  when  it  was  found  out."' 

There  was  much,  on  every  hand,  to  do.  The  richer  clergy 
and  colleges  had  an  evil  name  for  idleness,  neglect  of  study, 
and  indulgence  at  table.  In  his  zeal  and  simplicity  Cranmer 
fancied  an  archiepiscopal  order  might  work  a  cure.  But  it  was 
vain  to  prescribe  what  fare  must  content  a  bishop,  as  indeed  it 
might  prove  even  now.  The  new  edition  of  the  Bishops'  Book, 
known  henceforth  as  the  king's,  appeared  in  1543,  and  showed 
the  reaction  which  had  marred  so  much  else.  The  original 
book  had  been  Romish  enough,  but  this  eliminated  much  of  the 
good  it  had  contained,  as,  for  instance,  in  regard  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  Eucharist,  which  was  now  carefully  defined  in  strictly 
Romish  phrases.  The  change  reflected  the  varying  humour  of 
the  king,  for  nothing  was  passed  by  Convocation  that  was  not 
the  expression  of  his  opinions.  Gardiner's  influence  had  done 
its  work  in  him,  and  was  duly  stamped  on  this  last  official 
manifesto  of  the  creed  authorized  in  his  reign. 

In  this,  as  in  much  else,  the  baleful  influence  of  the  crown, 
under  the  Tudor  despotism,  on  the  development  of  religious 
freedom  was  only  too  manifest.  Rome  continued  to  the  end 
to  be  Henry's  ideal,  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  excepted. 
Nor  did  the  feeling  end  with  him.  It  was  equally  strong  even 
in  Elizabeth,  though  circumstances  forced  her  to  make  some 
concessions  to  the  spirit  of  the  nation.  Except  Edward,  all  the 
Tudors  had  an  open  or  secret  liking  for  Rome  as  the  type  of 
absolute  authority,  and  as  such  the  natural  counterpart  of  their 
conceptions  of  the  royal  prerogative.  Its  spiritual  tyranny  lent 
colour  and  support  to  their  political  despotism,  and  was  in- 
stinctively and  tenaciously  cherished  as  far  as  possible,  alike  from 
its  suiting  their  taste  and  from  the  impulse  of  self-preservation. 
Even  the  Stuarts,  in  their  feeble  aping  of  the  Tudors,  recognized 

*  Preface  to  th  e  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


3/2  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1543. 

the  same  principle,  and  felt  that  despotic  claims  on  the  part  of  the 
Church  were  alone  in  harmony  with  their  theory  of  divine  right 
in  the  crown.  Hence  the  English  Reformation  was  strangled 
at  the  outset  by  the  throne  and  the  Old  Party,  as  in  France  it 
was  stamped  out  by  the  throne  and  the  Vatican.  Left  free, 
England  would  have  cast  off  sacerdotalism  and  become  evan- 
gelical, for  in  no  other  European  country  had  the  religious 
opposition  set  in  so  early  or  with  such  strength  against  priestly 
claims.  A  wide  demand  for  thorough  reform  had  already 
sprung  up  in  the  days  of  Wycliffe,  and  had  leavened  the  intelli- 
gent town  populations  before  Henry's  quarrel  with  Rome. 
There  was  no  desire  to  exchange  the  episcopal  government 
established  for  a  more  democratic,  for  Genevan  Presbyterianism 
was  as  yet  unborn.  But  there  was  an  intense  dissatisfaction 
with  the  ghostly  claims  of  the  bishops  and  priests,  as  the  source 
of  the  main  doctrinal  corruptions  abounding,  and  a  yearning 
for  a  simple  New  Testament  creed;  and  these,  but  for  the 
Tudors,  would  have  left  less  to  reform  in  our  Church,  than  its 
best  friends,  in  presence  of  open  Romanism  so  insolent  to- 
day in  its  pulpits  and  altars,  have  to  regret. 

The  odious  Six  Articles  were  assailed  again  this  year  by 
Cranmer,  and  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  Gardiner,  the  death 
penalty  was  abolished  except  for  ecclesiastics ;  even  they 
suffering,  henceforth,  only  for  the  third  offence,  while  the  laity, 
even  in  a  third  offence,  were  only  to  forfeit  their  property  and 
suffer  imprisonment.  Charges,  moreover,  must  be  made  within 
a  year  of  the  alleged  act,  and  witnesses  were  to  be  heard  for  the 
accused.  It  was  enacted,  however,  that  the  king  might  alter 
this,  in  any  way,  if  he  chose. 

The  records  of  Canterbury  show  us  Cranmer,  in  the  passing 
months  of  1543,  upholding  the  new  "King's  Book"  in  his 
diocese,  and  allowing  no  preaching  or  arguing  upon  it.  He 
did  not  entirely  approve  of  it,  but  the  royal  command  was  law, 
and  there  was,  besides,  much  that  was  good  in  the  book; 
though    he    afterwards     charged    Gardiner  plainly,   in    King 


A.D.  1543]  Englatid  in  the  Years  \^^2-%.  373 

Edward's  time,  with  having  "  seduced  the  king  "  to  let  him 
foist  matter  into  it  which  would  not  othenvise  have  been  ad- 
mitted.^ He  had  a  weary  time  of  it  in  these  days,  what  with 
the  jangling  of  preachers  of  opposite  views  ;  the  accusation  and 
counter-accusation  by  neighbours  for  angry  words  on  disputed 
doctrines  ;  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  some,  and  the  un- 
balanced zeal  of  others.  One  village  priest  had  set  up  again 
four  images,  which  had  been  taken  down  by  the  king's  com- 
mand, for  abuses  by  pilgrimages  and  offerings :  another  had 
said  that  if  Judas  had  gone  to  God  and  confessed  his  fault,  as 
he  went  to  the  priest,  he  would  not  have  been  lost.  The  Vicar 
of  Boughton  had  not  preached  against  the  Bishop  of  Rome  or 
set  forth  the  king's  supremacy ;  nor  had  he  even  preached  at 
all,  once  a  quarter,  as  required.  The  Vicar  of  Northgate  had 
not  read  the  Bible  in  service-time,  as  required,  nor  declared  to 
his  parishioners  the  right  use  of  holy  water,  holy  bread,  bearing 
of  candles  on  Candlemas  Day,  giving  ashes,  bearing  palms,  or 
creeping  to  the  cross.  No  wonder,  therefore,  his  flock  "  ran  to 
the  church  for  holy  water,  to  cast  about  their  houses  every 
thunder-storm,  and,  at  other  times,  to  drive  away  devils."  One 
man  had  confessed  briefly  enough  to  his  curate,  "  I  am  a  sinner," 
and  preferred  telling  the  rest  to  God.  John  Tofts  had  openly 
read  the  Bible  in  the  church  to  his  wife  and  a  group  of  neigh- 
bours. The  bellringer  of  Christ  Church  had  poured  the  hot 
coals  out  of  the  censer  on  the  new  grave  of  the  archbishop's 
chaplain,  "  as  though  he  had  been  a  heretic  worthy  burning." 
One  preacher  had  said  that  "  Moses  sent  letters  from  hell  to 
teach  the  state  thereof,  and  how  men  should  live,  and  more 
likewise,  out  of  heaven."  Another,  on  Assumption  Day,  said 
that  as  the  moon  is  in  full  at  fourteen  days,  so  Mary  conceived 
Christ  when  she  was  fourteen  years  old.  The  Virgin's  milk," 
he  added,  "  came  down  from  heaven."  "  Prayer  was  not  ac- 
ceptable with  God  but  in  the  church  only."     "  You  fellows  of 


*  Strype's  Cranmer,  i.  228. 


374  "^^^  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1543. 

the  new  trick,"  he  went  on,  "  that  go  up  and  down  with  your 
Testament  in  your  hands,  I  pray  you,  what  profit  take  you  by 
it  ?  "  Still  worse  :  on  Good  Friday  he  preached  in  Kennington 
Church  that,  "  as  a  man  was  creeping  to  a  cross  on  a  Good 
Friday,  the  image  loosed  itself  oflf  the  cross,  and  met  the  man 
before  he  came  to  the  cross,  and  kissed  him." 

But  while  the  Romanists  thus  aired  their  notions,  the 
Gospellers  were  not  silent.  Scory,  a  preacher,  was  charged 
with  saying  that  no  one  should  pray  in  Latin  if  he  did  not 
understand  what  he  was  saying,  and  that  priests  and  clerks  are 
wrong  in  taking  money  for  saying  Dirige  and  Mass.  He  was 
a  Puritan,  in  fact,  in  advance.  The  dedication  of  material 
churches,  he  held,  was  invented  for  the  profit  of  the  bishops, 
and  that  if  churches  were  consecrated,  then  houses  should  be 
so,  as  well.  The  "  sumptuous  adorning  of  churches "  he  re- 
garded "  as  against  the  old  fashion  of  the  primitive  Church. 
The  money  thus  spent  had  better  be  given  to  the  poor."  Ridley, 
"the  prebendary,"  had  called  the  old  ceremonies  "beggarly 
ceremonies."  Parson  Brooks  thought  all  masters  and  mistresses 
should  eat  eggs,  butter,  and  cheese,  in  Lent,  for  an  example  to 
their  households.  The  Vicar  of  Lime  said  that  the  water  in  the 
font  was  no  better  than  other  water,  and  that  people  should  not 
say  that  they  would  receive  their  Maker  at  Easter,  but  our 
housel."'  Clearly,  the  Old  Party,  with  their  legends  and  super- 
stitions, were  far  behind  the  New  Doctrine,  for  the  solidity, 
truth,  and  sense  of  their  discourses.  Canterbury  had  three 
preachers  of  the  Old  Party  and  three  of  the  Gospellers,  set  there 
by  the  king  to  balance  each  other ;  a  step  by  no  means  con- 
ducive to  peace.  Nor  was  the  quiet  remark  of  Cranmer  to  a 
Romanist  priest  brought  before  him  likely  to  remain  unrepeated 
— "  that  imago,  an  image,  and  idolum,  an  idol,  were  the  same 
thing,  but  the  one  was  the  Latin,  the  other  the  Greek." 

As  it  was  in  the  provinces,  so,  still  more,  in  London.     Richard 

*  The  Eucharist. 


A.a  I543-]  England  in  the  Years  \^^2-%.  375 

Hilles,  the  London  merchant,  has  left  a  few  lines  of  his  story  by 
which,  as  through  a  chink  into  these  long  dead  ages,  we  see 
them  for  a  few  moments  once  more  living  before  us. 

His  neighbours  in  London,  he  tells  us,  spoke  grievously  of 
him  because  from  the  death  of  Queen  Anne  (Boleyn) — he  being 
then  a  young  man — he  refused  to  give  a  small  piece  of  money 
for  placing  large  wax  candles  in  the  church  before  the  crucifix 
and  the  sepulchre.  They  at  first  acted  kindly  with  him,  through 
his  parents  and  friends,  urging  the  antiquity  of  the  custom,  but 
he  answered  that  no  custom  could  prevail  in  opposition  to 
Christ,  who  said,  "  God  is  a  Spirit,"  &c.  Finding  they  could  make 
nothing  of  him,  they  had  to  let  things  rest  for  a  time,  Stokesley, 
the  bishop,  telling  them  that  it  would  by-and-by  turn  out  as  they 
wished.  "  The  year  but  one  before  I  left  England  the  public 
orders  of  the  king  were  sent  to  the  bishops  and  the  principal 
laity  in  every  parish,  that  by  reason  of  the  superstition  of  the  com- 
mon people  wax  candles  were  not  to  be  burned  or  placed  before 
images  in  the  churches,  except  only  before  the  crucifix,  and  at 
the  festival  of  Easter,  before  the  sepulchre.  The  churchwardens 
immediately  sent  for  me  and  asked  if  I  still  continued  obstinate 
against  his  majesty's  injunctions.  I  replied  that  these  orders 
did  not  concern  me  .  .  .  'they  do  not  enjoin  me  to  main- 
tain your  lights,  but  only  not  to  remove  them  from  the  church, 
which  I  do  not  attempt  to  do.'  .  .  .  After  this  I  heard  no  more 
of  the  affair  " — his  mother  having  secretly  paid  for  him,  to  keep 
things  quiet — "  except  that  the  day  after  I  left  London  for 
Antwerp,  Winchester  [Gardiner]  being  about  to  examine  some 
of  my  neighbours  who  were  apprehended  before  my  departure, 
endeavoured  to  fish  out  of  them  something  about  me.  He  said 
to  one  of  them,  in  the  presence  of  them  all,  as  they  were  stand- 
ing in  his  palace — *  And  you,  you  foolish  man,  for  what  purpose 
did  you  daily  receive  so  many  persons  into  your  house,  seeing 
you  are  a  poor  and  needy  mechanic } '  The  man  replied, 
'There  was  no  such  assembly  of  persons  at  my  house,  especially 
of    suspected    ones.'       '  What,'    said  the    bishop,  '  was    not 


376  The  English  Reformation.  [a,d.  1543- 

Richard  Hilles  every  day  at  your  house,  teaching  you  and  others 
Uke  you  ? '  The  accused  denied  this  altogether,  and  my  most 
bitter  enemies,  who  were  men  of  wealth,  were  uriwilHng  openly 
to  inform  against  me  of  their  own  accord,  and  be  regarded  in 
the  sight  of  all  as  guilty  of  treachery  against  their  neighbours, 
The  bishop,  too,  made  open  inquiry  respecting  me,  and  said 
that  I  should  take  myself  off,  and  no  longer  continue  to  poison 
his  flock."  With  this,  the  momentary  light  into  the  long-dead 
past  fails  us,  and  Gardiner  and  Hilles  alike,  and  the  Gospellers 
trembling  in  the  palace-hall,  are  once  more  shadows. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


CLOSE  OF  HENRY'S  REIGN. 


HENRY  remained  a  widower  till  the  summer  of  the  year 
after  Queen  Catherine  Howard  had  been  beheaded/ 
when  he  married  his  sixth  wife' — Katherine  Parr,  the  widow  of 
Lord  Latimer,  a  lady  past  the  bloom  of  youth,  but  "  endued 
with  singular  beauty,  favour,  and  comely  personage;"  sen- 
sible, pure,  and  kindly,  though  hardly  astute  enough  for  the 
crafty  and  vicious  court  in  which  she  had  to  move.  Henry, 
now  fifty-two,  was  steadily  declining  in  health,  and  increasing 
in  fretful  irritability,  which  made  it  more  dangerous  than  ever 
to  be  about  him.  To  the  great  joy  of  the  Reformers,  and  the 
corresponding  chagrin  of  the  Romanists,  there  was  once  more  a 
Protestant  queen.  But  even  she  was  not  able  to  prevent  them 
wreaking  their  vengeance  on  some  more  unfortunate  Gospellers. 
A  priest ;  a  chorister  of  Windsor  church,  famous  for  his  voice ; 
and  a  Windsor  man,  who  was  also  churchwarden,  had  been 
arrested  with  eleven  others  by  Dr.  London,  formerly  a  zealous 
Visitor  in  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  but  now  in  the 
service  of  Gardiner — a  man,  as  it  proved,  of  no  principle.  His 
victims  belonged  to  a  society  of  "  Gospellers"  which  had  been 
formed  at  Oxford,  and  were  apprehended  on  a  commission 
moved  for  in  Council  by  Gardiner,  for  searching  all  suspected 


>  July  15th,  1542. 


July  loth,  1543. 


3/8  TJie  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1543. 

houses  for  books  written  against  the  Six  Articles.  Pierson,  the 
priest,  had  offended  by  preaching  the  simple  Gospel  with  so 
much  power  that  the  people  flocked  from  all  parts  to  hear  him  : 
the  poor  chorister  had  ventured  to  read  the  Bible,  contrary  to 
the  late  injunction,  and  had  exhorted  his  acquaintances  not  to 
bow  down  before  dumb  images,  but  to  worship  only  the  living 
God ;  and  the  churchwarden  had  criticised  the  Romish  preach- 
ing of  some  of  the  priests.  For  this  Gardiner  had  the  happiness 
of  burning  them. 

A  fourth  prisoner  fared  better.  Though  a  poor  illiterate 
man,  he  had  begun  the  first  English  Concordance  of  the  Bible, 
and  had  brought  it  to  the  letter  L.  Hardly  believing  that  he 
could  have  done  it,  Gardiner  shut  him  up  with  a  Latin  Concor- 
dance and  an  English  Bible,  but  he  showed  that  the  work  was 
his  own  by  an  ingeniousness  and  diligence  that  astonished  even 
his  persecutors.  Gardiner  did  his  utmost  to  get  him  burned,  but 
failed.  "  He  is  better  employed  than  those  who  examined 
him,"  said  Henry,  when  he  heard  of  it, — and  set  him  free,  as  he 
did  also  the  ten  others.  He  was  getting  tired  of  the  blood- 
thirstiness  of  the  Old  Party,  and  Cranmer's  gentleness  was 
regaining  its  influence  over  him. 

But  however  pleasant  it  might  be  to  burn  obscure  offenders, 
it  was  necessary  "  to  fly  at  higher  game"  if  Romanism  was  to 
prosper.  If  possible,  Cranmer  must  be  destroyed.  To  Gardiner 
and  his  allies  "  he  was  the  chief  supporter  of  heresy,"  and  "  it 
was  wrong  to  punish  humble  offenders,  and  let  him  go  free.' 
The  Six  Articles  seemed  to  give  a  means,  and  Dr.  London  was 
ready  to  be  the  agent  in  the  plot.  No  stone  was  left  unturned 
to  secure  its  triumph.  Going  down  to  Canterbury  with  other 
spies,  London  sought  by  intrigue,  by  threats,  or  by  cajoling,  to 
get  up  charges  against  the  primate.  Other  Reformers  among 
the  nobility  at  court  were  also  sought  to  be  compromised,  and 
it  was  even  hoped  that  the  new  queen  might  be  entangled. 
Informations  were  taken,  and  everything  seemed  ready  for  the 
springing    of    the    mine.       Unfortunately  for    London,    and 


AD.  1544.}  Close  of  Henry's  Reign.  379 

Simonds,  an  attorney,  who  had  drawn  up  the  accusations,  a 
great  packet,  which  disclosed  their  whole  project,  was  inter- 
cepted, and  they  were  presently  sent  for  and  examined  about  it. 
Not  knowing  that  their  letters  had  been  discovered,  they  roundly 
denied  the  whole  affair,  on  oath,  and  were  sorely  confounded 
when  their  own  writing  was  produced.  Their  conviction  for 
perjury  followed,  and  as  a  punishment  they  were  set  on  a 
pillory,  and  made  to  ride  through  the  streets  with  their.faces  to 
the  tails  of  the  horses,  and  papers  stating  their  offence  stuck  on 
their  breasts.  London  showed  some  virtue,  however,  after  all, 
for  the  shame  and  mortification  so  affected  him  that  he  died 
soon  after. 

Meanwhile,  a  long  string  of  charges  against  Cranmer  and  his 
chaplains  had  been  handed  to  the  king  by  Gardiner,  who  had 
at  last  received  permission  to  present  them  ;  but  the  result  was 
very  different  from  his  expectations.  Taking  his  barge,  Henry 
crossed  over  to  Lambeth  to  the  primate,  and  handed  him  the 
paper  of  charges,  which  he  forthwith  read.  Having  finished,  he 
begged  the  king  to  name  a  commission  to  examine  the  matter, 
and  frankly  explained  the  facts.  Touched  by  his  simplicity 
and  candour,  Henry  disclosed  the  conspiracy  against  him,  and 
promised  to  nominate  a  commission,  of  which,  much  against  his 
will,  Cranmer  was  to  be  made  the  chief  member.  Inquiry 
showed  that  some  to  whom  the  primate  had  rendered  sf)ecial 
services  were  among  those  plotting  his  death,  but  he  refused  to 
expose  and  ruin  them  ;  and  the  result  of  the  whole  was  that  his 
gentleness  and  humility  won  the  admiration  of  all.  He  had 
shown  himself,  they  said,  a  true  bishop  by  practising  the  virtues 
he  recommended  to  others.'  Gardiner  never  recovered  the 
influence  lost  through  this  attempt  to  destroy  his  rival. 

Parliament  was  convened  on  the  14th  January,  1544,  to  hear 
the  king's  determination  to  go  to  war  with  France  once  more, 
and  also  to  be  revenged  on  the  Scotch  for  having  annulled  the 

*  Cranmer,  Works  ii.  9.      Burnet,  Ref.  L  593, 


38o  The  English  Reformation.  ^^  °-  '544- 

marriage  treaty  of  the  infant  Mary  with  Prince  Edward.  The 
jests  of  Francis,  even  more  than  poUtical  reasons,  had  led  to  a 
quarrel  at  once  costly  and  useless.  A  Bill  was  brought  in 
settling  the  succession  anew.  Prince  Edward  was  of  course  to 
succeed,  but  after  him,  if  he  had  no  children,  those  of  Katherine 
Parr,  if  she  had  any,  were  to  follow :  next,  Mary,  and  then 
Elizabeth.  As  Henry  had  spent  more  than  all  the  money  he 
had  received,  an  Act  was  passed  which  once  more  marks  the 
moral  worthlessness  of  the  age.  He  was  formally  released  from 
all  payment  of  moneys  borrowed  from  private  persons  under  the 
great  seal,  and  was  to  be  refunded  where  he  had  paid  back  any 
portion !  The  late  conspiracies  against  the  Primate  and  others 
having  roused  Henry  against  the  Romanists,  Cranmer  was  at 
last  enabled  to  get  the  Six  Articles  still  further  tempered.  It 
was  now  enacted  that  the  oaths  of  twelve  men,  before  three 
royal  commissioners,  should  be  necessary  for  an  indictment 
under  them.  None  were  to  be  imprisoned  but  by  the  king, 
except  on  indictment.  Charges,  moreover,  must  be  made 
within  a  year  of  the  alleged  offence,  and  if  the  words  of  a 
sermon  were  challenged,  they  must  be  so  within  forty  days  of 
its  being  preached.  The  accused  were,  besides,  allowed  to 
challenge  the  jury  as  in  other  felonies. 

Cranmer 's  energy  and  splendid  tenacity  was  seen  also  in  a 
royal  mandate  published  soon  after  Parliament  was  prorogued 
— enjoining  that  prayers  in  English  should  be  used  henceforth 
in  divine  service.  Hitherto,  it  was  said,  "  the  people  had  under- 
stood no  part  of  such  prayers  or  suffrages  as  were  used  to  be 
said  or  sung,"  and  had  consequently  greatly  neglected  attend- 
ance. Now,  however,  "  certain  godly  prayers  and  suffrages 
were  set  forth  in  our  native  English  tongue."  Thus  quietly 
rose  into  being  the  first  step  of  that  great  revolution  embodied 
in  our  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  which  has  for  so  many  genera- 
tions, in  conjimction  with  ihe  English  Bible,  been  the  safe- 
guard of  Protestantism  among  us.  The  new  prayers  included 
large  extracts  from  the  Psalms,  and  a  paraphrase  on  the  Lord's 


AD.  1544]  Close  of  Hmry s  Reign.  381 

Prayer.  But  the  special  characteristic  was  an  English  Litany, 
in  many  respects  the  same  as  the  grand  Litany  we  use  now, 
though  it  contained,  besides,  invocations  to  the  Virgin,  to 
angels,  prophets,  apostles  and  martyrs.  The  King's  Primer 
had  already  furnished  English  prayers  for  private  use,  but  Latin 
had  still  been  the  language  of  the  Church.  From  this  time, 
however,  the  people,  instead  of  listening  to  unintelligible  words 
sung  by  priests  at  the  altar,  or  at  the  head  of  processions, 
joined  intelligently  in  public  worship,  and  as  they  raised  their 
voices  in  such  touching  petitions  as  "  Spare  us,  good  Lord ; " 
"  Good  Lord,  we  beseech  thee  to  hear  us,"  the  religious  revolu- 
tion which  had  granted  them  so  great  a  boon  became  dear  for 
ever  to  the  nation.  No  change  of  government  could  hence- 
forth win  or  force  England  to  be  disloyal  to  it.  Even  the 
storm  of  Queen  Mary's  day  swept  over  the  land  without  per- 
manent harm,  resting  as  the  new  faith  did  on  the  instinctive 
sympathy  of  all  classes. 

A  second  plot  against  Cranmer  failed  no  less  ignominiously 
than  the  first.  The  Old  Party,  furious  at  his  restored  influence, 
now  ventured  to  accuse  him  in  Parliament  of  heresy  as  to  the 
mass,  in  his  sermons  and  lectures  at  Sandwich  and  Canterbury. 
Their  speaker  was  one  Gostwick,  member  for  Bedfordshire,  but 
Henry's  quick  wit  instantly  saw  that  he  was  only  a  tool  of  Gar- 
diner, since  he  had  not  himself  heard  the  primate  preach  any 
of  the  discourses  impugned.  For  once,  despotism  was  of  service 
to  truth  and  justice.  The  king  denounced  the  accuser  as  a 
varlet,  and  told  him  "  that  he  had  played  a  villainous  part  to 
abuse  in  open  Parliament  the  primate  of  the  realm,  especially 
being  in  favour  with  the  prince  as  he  was."  "  What  will  they  do 
with  him,"  added  he,  "  if  I  were  gone  ?  "  "  Go  and  tell  the 
varlet,"  he  continued,  addressing  one  of  his  privy  chamber,  "  that 
if  he  do  not  acknowledge  his  fault  unto  my  lord  of  Canterbury, 
and  so  reconcile  himself  towards  him  that  he  may  become  his 
good  lord,  I  will  pull  the  gosling's  feathers,  and  soon  make  him 
a  poor  Gostwick,  and  otherwise  punish  him,  to  the  example  of 


382  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  154J. 

others."  Hurrying  to  Lambeth,  the  unfortunate  man  found 
willing  forgiveness  from  Cranmer,  who  was  always  ready  to 
return  good  for  evil,  and  not  only  kept  no  enmity  against  him, 
but  went  forthwith,  and  obtained  the  king's  pardon  for  him, 
though  with  difficulty.' 

The  new  wars,  meanwhile,  went  on  apace.  In  May  1544,  a 
fleet  sent  northwards  surprised  and  burned  down  Edinburgh, 
and  laid  waste  the  country  round ;  returning  after  this  highly 
Christian  act.  To  meet  the  costs,  the  unworthy  resort  of 
debasing  the  currency  was  introduced,  while  the  money  which 
was  intrinsically  worth  less  was  proclaimed  of  a  higher  nominal 
value  than  before.  In  July  Henry  sailed  over  to  France  in  a 
vessel  with  sails  of  cloth  of  gold,  for,  whoever  suffered  from  evil 
times,  his  lavish  prodigality  on  himself  and  his  pomp  continued 
the  same.  Boulogne  after  a  time  was  taken,  but  not  before  the 
cost  of  the  expedition  had  risen  to  the  enormous  sum  of 
;^587,ooo,  then  worth  twelve  tim.es  that  value.  The  prize, 
moreover,  was  worthless,  for  Charles  presently  deserted  Henry, 
and  left  him  to  "face  France  alone,  and  in  consequence,  the  troops 
were  brought  back  to  England  in  October. 

During  his  absence  the  queen  had  acted  as  regent,  but  Audley 
had  died,  and  Wriothesley,  a  strong  Romanist,  had  been  made 
chancellor.  Gardiner  and  his  party,  besides,  were  still  on  the 
whole  in  the  ascendant,  and  the  state  of  things  was  gradually 
becoming  much  to  his  liking.  "  Soul  masses,''  "  censing  of 
images,"  and  "  ear  confessions,"  were  rigidly  enforced ;  the 
authority  of  Scripture  was  depreciated,  as  of  old,  in  con- 
trast with  that  of  the  Fathers.  Old  ceremonies,  of  late  years 
falling  into  deserved  disuse,  were  now  "seemly  usages"  and 
"  godly  constitutions ;  "  Popery  in  short,  without  the  Pope,  was 
rising  again  to  its  full  glory.  Spiritual  religion,  indeed,  could 
not  hope  to  flourish  under  a  bishop  who  kept  two  mistresses, 
but  rites  and  ceremonies  were  not  affected  by  its  absence. 

Parliament  met  again  in  January,    1545,  for  Henry  needed 

'  Strypc-'s  Cranmer,  i.  271. 


■A.D.  I54S-]  Close  of  Henry's  Reign.  383 

more  money.  A  "  benevolence  "  was  therefore  demanded,  and 
of  course  granted,  but  the  people  were  very  unwilling  to  be  thus 
illegally  taxed  under  the  pretence  of  making  voluntary  gifts. 
Only  one  man,  however,  a  rich  London  alderman,  ventured 
obstinately  to  refuse,  but  so  utterly  was  the  old  Constitution 
now  crushed,  that  he  was  sent,  in  punishment,  as  a  com- 
mon soldier  to  Scotland,  with  special  orders  to  put  him  on  the 
hardest  posts.  The  French  war  dragged  along  wearily ;  Francis 
threatening  to  invade  England ;  Charles  refusing  a  passage 
through  Germany  to  mercenaries  Henry  had  hired.  The 
Council  of  Trent,  which  was  to  reform  the  Romish  Church,  and 
make  reunion  possible  to  England  and  Germany,  opened  in  May, 
and  doubtless  was  one  great  cause  of  Henry's  attitude  to  the 
Reformation,  for  he  still  clung  to  the  dream  of  affiliation  to 
Rome,  while  repudiating  its  authority.  Parliament  had  to  meet 
once  more  in  November,  to  provide  more  money  for  the  war, 
and  another  subsidy  was  extorted  of  2s.  8d.  in  the  pound  on 
goods,  and  4s.  on  lands,  payable  in  two  years ;  the  unhappy 
clergy  having  to  give  6s,  in  the  pound  of  their  incomes.  But 
this  was  far  from  enough.  There  still  remained  a  great  number 
of  colleges,  chapels,  charities,  hospitals,  and  the  like,  endowed 
with  lands,  rents,  and  stipends,  for  saying  masses  for  the  souls  of 
their  founders  and  their  families.  All  these  Parliament  dissolved 
at  one  blow,  giving  houses,  lands,  and  goods  of  all  kinds 
absolutely  to  the  king.  It  was  greatly  feared  that,  after  this,  even 
the  universities  would  be  destroyed,  and  Dr.  Cox,  tutor  to  the 
young  prince,  ventured  to  write  on  the  subject.  He  pointed 
out,  as  the  Reformers  were  always  doing,  the  great  want  of 
schools,  preachers,  and  houses  for  orphans ;  that  want  would 
drive  the  clergy  to  flattery,  superstition,  and  the  old  idolatry ; 
that  there  were  ravening  wolves  round  the  court  who  would  devour 
universities,  cathedrals,  charities,  and  a  thousand  times  more. 
Posterity  would  wonder  at  such  things,  and  therefore  he  trusted 
that  the  universities  would  be  spared.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
their  existence  now,  is  due  to  this  brave  remonstrance. 


384  TJie  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1545. 

That  Cranmer  should  keep  his  place  with  the  king  was  in- 
tolerable to  Gardiner  and  his  party.  Two  plots  against  him  had 
already  failed,  but  a  third  might  be  more  successful.  Norfolk 
and  others  of  the  Council,  now  under  a  Romish  chancellor, 
resolved,  in  alliance  with  Gardiner,  to  make  a  last  attempt. 
Affecting  to  lament  the  growth  of  heresy,  and  hinting  that  it 
would  surely  lead  to  rebellions  and  troubles  like  those  of 
Munster,  they  submitted  to  the  king  that  Cranmer  was  its  chief 
promoter,  and  should  certainly  be  examined.  Henry  forthwith 
demanded  the  names  of  his  accusers,  but  was  met  by  the  reply, 
that  if  he  were  committed  to  the  Tower,  they  would  come 
forward,  but  dared  not  appear  against  him,  as  one  of  the 
Council,  while  free.  On  this,  permission  was  given  to  arrest 
him  next  day,  and  send  him  to  the  Tower  for  trial.  At  mid- 
night, however,  Henry  sent  for  him,  and  told  him  what  had 
happened.  His  uprightness  and  simplicity  once  more  saved 
him,  pleasing  Henry  so,  that  he  gave  him  his  ring  to  produce 
to  the  Council,  as  a  sign  that  the  case  was  reserved  for  his  own 
decision.  "  Do  you  not  consider  what  an  easy  thing  it  is,"  said 
he,  "to  procure  three  or  four  false  knaves  to  witness  against 
you,  if  you  were  once  in  the  Tower.?  I  see  you  would  run 
headlong  to  your  undoing  if  I  would  suffer  you  .''" 

Next  morning  the  archbishop  was  summoned  to  attend  the 
Council,  but  when  he  came  he  was  not  admitted.  Word  having 
reached  the  king  of  his  having  been  "  kept  among  the  pages, 
lackeys,  and  serving-men "  in  this  way,  Henry  was  indignant. 
On  being  at  last  admitted,  however,  the  sight  of  the  ring 
worked  wonders.  No  one  would  say  a  word  against  him. 
He  was  once  more  saved. 

Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk,  the  king's  brother-in-law, 
a  man  disposed  to  support  Cranmer  as  far  as  was  safe,  died  in 
August,  and  thus  Cranmer  was  still  more  alone  than  ever. 
Never  idle,  however,  he  had  proposed  to  Henry  to  revise  the 
canons  and  Papal  laws  still  in  force,  and  had  himself,  with  the 
help  of  learned  friends,  made  a  selection  from  them  suited  to 


A.D.  is+6,]  Close  of  Henry's  Reign.  385 

the  altered  position  of  the  Church.  It  was  an  anomaly  to  have 
laws  current  which  declared  that  he  who  did  not  acknowledge 
himself  under  the  Pope,  or  own  that  the  Bishop  of  Rome  was 
primate  of  the  whole  world,  was  a  heretic ;  that  all  the  decrees 
of  the  Popes  ought  to  be  kept  perpetually,  as  God's  words, 
spoken  by  the  mouth  of  Peter  ;  that  the  See  of  Rome  is  with- 
out spot  or  wrinkle,  and  much  more  of  the  same  tenor.  The 
reform,  had  it  been  carried  out,  would  have  introduced  a  system 
of  discipline  into  the  Church  which  might  have  been  further 
modified  as  required.  But  though  the  draft  was  completed,  and 
nothing  was  wanted  but  the  signature  of  the  king,  the  Romish 
party  found  means  of  keeping  him  from  signing ;  and  thus  one 
of  the  most  useful  reforms  was  put  off,  as  it  proved,  for  ever. 

Cranmer  had  long  striven  to  get  some  of  the  countless  cere- 
monies in  vogue  abolished,  and  now,  at  last,  succeeded.  Henry 
had  given  the  Church-service  books  to  him  for  revision,  and 
he  had  associated  with  him  Heath^  and  Day,'  the  Bishops  of 
Worcester  and  Chichester,  with  some  others.  Their  unanimous 
opinion  was,  that  many  Church  usages  should  be  put  down. 
Amongst  others,  they  condemned  that  of  creeping  to  the  cross 
on  Good  Friday,  the  tendency  of  which  showed  itself  in  the 
Office  for  it — "We  adore  thy  cross,  O  Lord;"  "The  clergy 
shall  advance  with  bare  feet  to  the  cross,  which  is  to  be  adored;" 
"  Let  the  cross  be  set  on  the  altar,  in  the  front,  where  it  may 
be  adored  by  the  people."  It  was  now  abolished  by  the  king's 
command ;  the  images  in  churches  were  not  to  be  covered  in 
Lent ;  no  veil  was  to  be  put  on  the  cross  on  Palm  Sunday,  and 
there  was  to  be  no  kneeling  to  it,  then,  or  at  any  other  time.' 
These  usages  had  been  sanctioned  in  the  Articles  of  1536,  but 
now,  after  ten  years,  Cranmer  and  his  friends  had  won  even 
Henry  over  to  their  abolition.  Gardiner  was  for  the  time  absent 
on  a  mission  to  the  emperor,  else  it  might  not  have  been  so 
easy  to  gain  this  step  in  advance.     But  for  him,  indeed,  it  is 

*  Consecrated  1540.  '  Consecrated  1543. 

•  Domeslic  Papers,   1546,  vol.  viii. 


386  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1546. 

hard  to  say  how  much  farther  reform  might  not  have  advanced 
in  these  last  months  of  Henry's  reign,  for  we  have  it  on  Cran- 
mer's  authority  that  he  had  actually  intended  to  change  the 
mass  itself  into  a  communion,  and  to  remove  the  "  rood "  or 
crucifix  from  all  the  churches,  had  not  Gardiner  turned  him 
from  doing  so  by  writing  from  Germany,  that  any  innovations 
in  religion  would  cause  the  emperor  to  refuse  to  sign  the  much 
wished-for  peace.^  Even  from  a  distance,  he  managed  to  be 
the  evil  genius  of  a  pure  faith. 

While  Henry  was  in  this  favourable  mood,  Cranmer  used  his 
influence  to  prevent  any  further  spoliations  of  the  Church  by 
laymen  and  others.  It  had  become  a  common  practice  for  the 
greedy  adventurers  about  court  to  use  Henry's  name,  with  or 
without  his  sanction,  to  demand  that  Church  lands  should  be 
made  over  nominally  to  him,  but  really  to  themselves,  for,  by 
giving  a  trifling  consideration  to  the  crown,  it  was  held  that 
they  had  bought  them  from  it.  Cranmer  had  the  honesty  and 
courage  to  complain  of  the  abuse,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining 
an  order  from  the  king  that  no  Churchmen  should  henceforth 
alienate  their  lands  without  a  written  letter  from  him  "declaring 
his  pleasure." 

The  Romish  party,  however,  was  no  less  active  in  harrying 
and  burning  Protestants.  Bishop  Shaxton,  who  had  been  for  a 
length  of  time  in  the  Tower,  was  sentenced  to  be  burned,  but 
recanted — in  preparation,  as  it  proved,  for  open  apostacy  in  the 
days  of  Queen  Mary.  Crome,  a  foremost  London  preacher,  was 
brought  into  sore  trouble,  and  men  were  burned  in  different 
places  for  refusing  to  believe  in  the  mass.  Its  very  name, 
indeed,  was  growing  so  increasingly  hateful  to  Englishmen, 
that,  as  we  have  seen,  even  Henry  was  minded  to  abolish  it  for 
ever.  What  the  "  conspirators  "  of  our  day  are  trying  to  bring 
back  among  us  was  that,  rather  than  receive  which,  our  fore- 
fathers were  content  to  die  in  the  flames.     "  Thou  good  man,** 

*  Foxe,  under  dale  1546. 


A.D.  1546.]  Close  of  Henry's  Reign.  387 

asked  a  priest,  of  one  victim  at  Ipswich,  when  at  the  stake, 
"dost  though  not  believe  that  the  blessed  sacrament  of  the  altar 
is  the  very  fiesh  and  blood  of  Christ,  and  no  bread,  even  as 
He  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ?"  "  I  do  not  so  believe," 
answered  the  martyr.  "  I  believe  that  in  the  sacrament  that 
Jesus  Christ  instituted  at  His  last  supper,  His  death  and 
passion,  and  His  bloodshedding  for  the  redemption  of  the  world, 
are  to  be  remembered.  It  is  yet  bread,  and  more  than  bread, 
for  it  is  consecrated  to  a  holy  use."  Nobly  said  for  a  simple, 
unlettered  man,  whose  brave  English  soul  knew  how  to  die  for 
what  he  believed. 

The  most  infamous  of  all  these  executions  was  that  of  a  lady 
— Anne  Askew,  daughter  of  a  Lincolnshire  knight — who  had 
been  driven  from  her  home  by  her  husband,  a  bigoted  Papist, 
for  her  love  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  evangelical  truth.  Having 
come  to  London,  and  having  a  brother  in  the  king's  body  guard, 
she  naturally  went  to  court,  where  at  that  time  there  were  a 
number  of  ladies,  including  the  queen,  favourably  inclined  to  the 
Reformation.  With  these  she  was  often  received  in  the  queen's 
private  chambers  at  meetings  for  prayer,  and  exposition  of  the 
Scriptures  by  some  Protestant  minister.  The  mortification  of 
the  Romanists  at  seeing  persons  of  the  highest  rank  thus  openly 
professing  evangelical  religion  was  extreme,  and  they  determined 
to  arrest  Anne  Askew  that  it  might  terrify  the  rest.  She  had 
been  reported  as  saying  that  she  would  sooner  read  five  lines  in 
the  Bible  than  hear  five  masses  in  the  Church,  and  for  this, 
among  other  whispers,  she  was  thrown  into  prison,  without 
being  brought  before  the  royal  commissioners,  and  openly 
accused,  as  the  law  now  required.  When  examined  in  the 
bishop's  court,  she  was  asked  if  she  did  not  believe  that  the 
sacrament  hanging  over  the  altar  was  the  very  body  of  Christ  ? 
"Why  was  St.  Stephen  stoned  to  death?"  said  she,  in  reply. 
But  her  questioner  would  not  answer,  for  St.  Stphen  had  said 
that  he  saw  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  (in  a  bodily  form)  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  which  made  it  impossible  to  conceive  of 


388  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1546. 

His  being  also  everywhere  bodily  present  in  the  sacrament.  Next 
brought  before  the  Lord  Mayor,  a  bigoted  papist,  he  gravely 
asked  her  whether  a  mouse,  if  it  ate  the  host,  received  God  or 
no  ?  "  I  made  no  answer,  but  smiled,"  says  Anne.  Bonner's 
chancellor,  on  this,  sharply  said,  "  St.  Paul  forbade  women  to 
speak  or  to  talk  of  the  Word  of  God."  "  How  many  women," 
replied  she,  "  have  you  seen  go  into  the  pulpit  and  preach  ?  " 
"  Never  any,"  said  he.  "  You  ought  not  then  to  find  fault  with 
poor  women,  except  they  have  offended  the  law,"  was  the  clever 
retort.  A  lady  by  birth,  she  was  at  the  time  about  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  and  the  mother  of  two  children. 

After  twelve  days'  further  illegal  imprisonment,  one  of  her 
cousins  succeeded  in  getting  her  out  on  bail,  and  she  was  thus 
for  a  time  set  at  liberty.  It  had  been  difficult  to  obtain  even 
this.  The  Lord  Mayor  bade  him  apply  to  the  bishop's  chan- 
cellor, and  he,  again,  referred  him  to  Bonner,  who  called  Anne 
before  him,  and  examined  her  at  great  length.  Among  other 
things,  he  asked  her  if  she  did  not  think  that  soul  masses  helped 
souls  departed  ?  "  It  is  great  idolatry,"  she  replied,  "  to 
believe  in  them  more  than  in  the  death  which  Christ  died  for 
us."  A  number  of  articles  having  been  drawn  up  by  the  bishop 
for  her  to  sign,  she  wrote, — "  I  believe  so  much  thereof  as  Holy 
Scripture  doth  agree  thereto."  This  was  not  enough.  She 
must  sign  the  document.  She  then  wrote,  "  I,  Anne  Askew, 
do  believe  all  manner  of  things  contained  in  the  faith  of  the 
Catholic  Church."  Bonner  saw  her  meaning,  and  "  flung  into 
his  own  chamber  in  a  great  fury."^  He  would  hardly  listen 
to  the  proposal  for  bail. 

Continuing  to  meet  with  the  Protestant  ladies  after  her  libera- 
tion, Anne  was  once  more  arrested  and  brought  before  the 
Privy  Council,  next  year,  1 546.  Happily,  Cranmer  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  case  from  first  to  last.  It  was  a  triumph  of 
which  Bonner  and  Gardiner  had  all  the  glory.     "  Tell  me  your 

'  Bale's  Select  Works,  177. 


AD.  1546.]  Close  of  Henrys  Reign.  389 

opinion  on  the  sacrament,"  asked  Lord  Chancellor  Wriothesley. 
"  I  believe,"  said  she,  "  that  so  oft  as  I,  in  a  Christian  congre- 
gation, receive  the  bread  in  remembrance  of  Christ's  death,  and 
with  thanksgiving,  I  receive  therewith  the  fruits  also  of  His  most 
glorious  passion."  "  That  which  you  call  your  God,"  she  added, 
"  is  but  a  piece  of  bread ;  and  for  more  proof  thereof,  let  it  but 
lie  in  the  box  three  months,  and  it  will  be  mouldy,  and  turn  to 
nothing  that  is  good."  "Make  a  direct  answer  to  the  question," 
said  Gardiner.  "  I  will  not  sing  a  new  song  of  the  Lord,"  replied 
she,  "  in  a  strange  land."  "  You  speak  in  parables,"  said  Gardiner. 
"  It  is  best  for  you,"  she  answered,  "  for  if  I  show  the  open  truth, 
ye  will  not  accept  it."  "  You  are  a  parrot,"  retorted  the  bishop 
angrily.  But  Anne  had  her  noble  answer :  "  I  am  ready,"  said 
she,  "  to  suffer  all  things  at  your  hands,  not  only  your  rebukes, 
but  all  that  shall  follow  besides,  yea,  and  all  that  gladly."  A 
second  examination  followed  next  day.  "  You  shall  be  burned," 
said  Bonner.  "  I  have  searched  all  the  Scriptures,"  replied  she, 
"  yet  could  I  never  find  that  either  Christ  or  His  apostles  put 
any  creature  to  death." 

She  was  now  sent  back  to  prison,  so  ill  with  her  trials  that 
she  seemed  like  to  die.  "  In  all  my  life  afore,"  said  she,  "  I  was 
never  in  such  pain."  She  had  conferred  with  Dr.  Crome 
formerly,  but  he  had  weakly  recanted  when  brought  up  lately, 
and  now  she  wished  to  see  Latimer,  then  a  prisoner  in  the 
Tower.  But  such  a  favour  could  not  be  granted  her.  She  had 
a  right,  by  law,  to  be  tried  by  a  jury,  but  law  was  nothing  in  those 
days,  and  on  the  28th  of  June  she  was  condemned  by  the  Lord 
Chancellor  and  the  Council,  without  a  trial,  to  be  burned,  for 
having  denied  the  bodily  presence  of  Christ  in  the  Mass.  Being 
asked  if  she  wished  for  a  priest,  she  smiled  and  said  "  she  would 
confess  her  faults  imto  God,  for  she  was  sure  He  would  hear  her 
with  favour," 

While  in  Newgate,  sh©  bore  herself  with  calm  greatness  of 
soul.  A  "  confession  "  which  she  wrote,  is  a  wonder  of  acute- 
ness,  and  the  very  triumph  of  a  heavenly  spirit.    Even  her 


390  The  English  Reformation,  [ad.  1546. 

signature  to  it  is  unique.  "  Written  by  me,  Anne  Askew,  that 
neither  wish  death,  nor  yet  fear  his  might ;  and  as  merry  as  one 
that  is  bound  for  heaven."  Some  verses  she  composed  in  the 
interval  before  her  execution  have  a  ring  and  spirit  in  them 
that  mark  the  true  heroine.     Here  are  some  of  them  :— 

'*  On  Thee  my  care  I  cast, 
For  all  their  cruel  spite  ; 
I  set  not  by  their  haste, 
For  Thou  art  my  delight. 

*'  I  saw  a  royal  throne' 

Where  Justice  should  have  sat. 
But  in  her  stead  was  one 
Of  muddy,  cruel  wit. 

"  Then  thought  I,  Jesus,  Lord, 

When  Thou  shalt  judge  us  all, 
Hard  is  it  to  record 

On  these  men-  what  will  falL" 

Anne  had  rested  her  faith  on  the  Scriptures,  and  had  evidently 
studied  Protestant  books.  Gardiner  and  his  allies  therefore 
obtained  from  Henry,  eight  days  before  her  death,  a  fresh  pro- 
clamation forbidding  any  person  whatever  "  to  receive,  take,  or 
keep  in  their  possession  the  text  of  the  New  Testament,  of 
Tyndale's  or  Coverdale's  translation,  nor  any  other  than  is  per- 
mitted by  Act  of  Parliament."  All  Protestant  books  also  were 
prohibited,  such  as  Friths,  Tyndale's,  Wycliffe's,  Coverdale's,  or 
those  of  Barnes,  and  the  like.  All  such  were  to  be  delivered  up 
and  publicly  burned.  But  events  were  stronger  than  the  king, 
and  the  proclamation  happily  remained  a  dead  letter. 

It  was  not  enough  to  burn  the  one  young  creature  they  had  in 
their  power,  if  the  Romanists  could  not  get  her  to  implicate 
others.  In  defiance  of  all  law,  therefore,  the  chancellor  and  his 
party  had  gone  to  the  Tower  to  ask  her  about  her  accomplices, 

*  The  Chancellor's  seat.  *  The  Chancellor,  Bonner,  and  Gardiner. 


AD.  1546]  Close  of  Henry' s  Reign.  391 

naming  the  Duchess  of  Suffolk,  Henry's  sister,  the  Countess  of 
Sussex,  and  others,  in  hopes  of  getting  evidence  against  them, 
and  on  her  refusing  to  betray  any  one,  they  actually  put  her  on 
the  rack.  Even  then,  she  gave  no  hint  and  did  not  utter  a 
cry.  "  Strain  her  on  the  rack  again,"  cried  Wriothesley, 
enraged,  but  the  lieutenant  of  the  Tower  refused.  On  this 
the  lord  chancellor  and  Rich,  a  privy  councillor,  themselves 
racked  her  until  her  joints  were  almost  torn  asunder.  "  My 
lord  chancellor  and  Master  Rich  took  pains  to  rack  me  with 
their  own  hands,"  said  she  afterwards,  "till  I  was  nigh 
dead.  Then  the  lieutenant  caused  me  to  be  loosed;  incon- 
tinently I  swooned,  and  then  they  recovered  me  again.  After 
that  I  sat  two  long  hours,  reasoning  with  my  lord  chancellor  on 
the  bare  floor,  where  he,  with  many  flattering  words,  persuaded 
me  to  leave  my  opinion."  Even  Henry  upbraided  Wriothesley 
for  his  cruelty. 

The  tragedy  ended  on  the  i6th  July.  They  were  obliged 
to  carry  Anne  to  the  stake  on  a  chair,  for  she  could  not  walk. 
Three  other  Protestants  were  to  be  burned  with  her, — a -priest, 
one  of  the  king's  household,  and  a  man  from  Colchester.  All 
four  stood  firm  in  their  faith,  and  passed  to  their  reward,  vic- 
torious for  us  as  well  as  themselves,  for  the  flames  in  which  they 
perished  helped  to  kindle  an  undying  hatred  of  Popery,  which 
by  God's  grace  will  bring  to  nothing  all  attempts  to  restore  it 
amongst  us. 

The  war  with  France  dragged  on  till  August,  1546,  Boulogne 
being  given  up,  after  having  cost,  one  way  or  other,  a  million 
and  a  quarter  pounds,  equal  then,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  to 
twelve  times  the  amount  now.  Henry  was  now  fast  sinking. 
His  corpulence  was  growing  so  excessive  that  erelong  he  had  to 
be  moved  about  by  a  machine,  and  his  leg  was  worse  than  ever. 
The  effect  on  such  a  temp'er  was  terrible,  and  made  it  dan- 
gerous to  be  near  him.  Even  the  queen  nearly  perished  through 
the  advantage  taken  of  his  peevish  ferocity  by  Gardiner  and 
Wriothesley.  Encouraged  by  their  success  in  destroying  Anne 
18 


392  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1546. 

Askew,  they  hoped  now  to  strike  at  still  higher  victims.  Cathe- 
rine had  been  guilty  of  the  imprudence  of  holding  her  point  in 
argument  with  Henry  on  religious  subjects  a  little  too  tenaciously, 
and  had  roused  him  against  her.  Noticing  this,  Gardiner  and 
his  fellow  conspirators  hinted  to  him  that  she  was  a  dangerous 
heretic,  whom  the  honour  of  religion  and  the  safety  of  the  realm 
required  to  be  impeached.  In  a  fit  of  insane  malevolence  it  was 
forthwith  permitted  that  she  should  be  so,  and  the  writing  when 
drawn  out  duly  received  his  signature.  Providentially,  Wriothes- 
ley  dropped  it  in  the  palace,  and  it  was  carried  to  the  queen, 
who  showed  rare  presence  of  mind  in  dealing  with  it.  Going  to 
Henry,  she  reintroduced  the  subject  of  her  unfortunate  conver- 
sation, accepted  his  opinions,  and  declined  to  argue  with  him, 
saying  it  was  for  her  to  listen  to  his  wisdom,  not  to  speak,  and 
that  if  ever  she  had  disputed  with  him,  it  was  to  gain  information 
and  divert  him  from  his  pain.  The  soft  flattery  was  all-power- 
ful. Embracing  her  tenderly,  he  assured  her  of  his  unchange- 
able favour  and  protection!  The  scene  took  place  in  the 
garden,  which  was  presently  entered  by  Wriothesley  with 
men  to  arrest  the  queen ;  but  to  his  astonishment  he  was 
assailed  by  Henry  as  a  knave,  fool,  and  beast,  and  told  to 
be  gone.  The  plot  recoiled  on  its  authors.  Gardiner  was 
struck  off  the  privy  council,  and  from  the  number  of  the 
king's  executors,  and  was  ordered  not  to  appear  again  in  the 
royal  presence. 

In  these  last  months  of  Henry's  reign  we  catch  one  more 
glimpse  of  Latimer.  On  the  13th  May,  the  great  preacher,  who 
had  been  silenced  for  years,  was  brought  before  the  Council, 
which  was  at  the  same  time  busy  with  the  victims  who  were  to  be 
burned  with  Anne  Askew.  Tunstal  and  Gardiner  have  left  an 
account  of  the  proceedings,  but  it  is  too  long  to  insert.  As 
bold  as  ever,  he  told  Gardiner  and  the  rest  that  their  doings 
were  more  extreme  than  if  he  lived  under  the  Turk.  He  knew 
in  fact  that  they  were  utterly  illegal.  The  Council  we^e  no  match 
for  his  shrewdness,  and  could  make  nothing  of  him,  his  answers 


AJ>.  15471  Close  of  Henry's  Reign.  393 

"  being  in  such  sort  as  we  be  as  wise  almost  as  we  were  before." 
Nothing  remained  but  to  send  him  back  to  the  Tower,  where 
he  remained  till  Henry's  death.     They  were  afraid  as  yet  to 
bum  him. 

The  court  factions  had  grown  more  embittered  against  each 
other  as  Henry's  end  visibly  approached,  for  each  hoped  to  hold 
the  regency  which  evidently  was  near.  On  one  side  were  the 
Norfolks,  the  hope  of  the  Romanists ;  on  the  other,  the  Sey- 
mours, who  had  been  ennobled  as  uncles  of  the  young  prince. 
Most  of  both  sets  were  worthless  enough,  but  the  Seymours  had 
the  advantage  of  easiest  access  to  Henry.  Persuading  him  that 
Norfolk  and  his  son,  the  Earl  of  Surrey,  a  man  of  high  accom- 
plishments and  rare  genius,  hot  in  temper  it  may  be,  but  very 
young,  were  plotting  to  get  the  prince  into  their  power  as  soon  as 
he  himself  died,  he  had  them  both  arrested.  No  charges  could 
be  more  vague  than  those  made  against  them,  but  the  utmost 
haste  was  made  to  get  them  executed  before  he  should  die. 
Surrey  was  beheaded  on  the  21st  of  January,  1547,  but  the  bill 
of  attainder  for  his  father  could  not  be  got  through  Parliament 
and  be  assented  to  before  the  27th.  The  execution  was  fixed, 
however,  for  the  next  day.  Before  day-break,  however,  Henry 
was  dead,  and  no  one  dared  put  to  death  the  greatest  subject  in 
the  realm  under  such  circumstances. 

Fourteen  years  had  passed  since  the  divorce  of  Catherine, 
but  they  were  the  most  momentous  in  the  history  of  England. 
The  principle  of  priestly  authority  in  religion,  that  tap-root  of 
all  superstition,  had  unwittingly  been  destroyed  for  ever  in  the 
repudiation  of  the  Pope.  The  monasteries  had  been  swept  away. 
The  Church  had  been  made  subordinate  to  the  State,  that  is,  the 
nation.  The  clergy  had  been  made  amenable  to  the  same  law 
as  other  citizens.  The  images  which  filled  the  land  had  been 
cast  down.  Grovelling  ceremonies  that  degraded  religion  had 
been  abolished.     The  pulpit  had  been  restored  to  its  rightful 

»  State  Papers,  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  i.  p.  848. 


394  l^he  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1547. 

prominence.  Prayers  in  English  had  taken  taken  the  place  of 
services  in  Latin,  which  no  one  understood,  and  the  Bible  had 
been  spread  before  the  people  in  their  own  tongue.  No  reaction 
of  Henry's  later  years  could  undo  these  reforms,  nor  was  their 
influence  restricted  to  his  life,  for  through  them,  age  after  age, 
the  spirit  of  religious  liberty  has  been  preserved,  and  spiritual 
religion  promoted. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  PROTECTORATE. 

THE  executors  of  Henry  VIIL,  having  been  selected  at  the 
moment  of  the  downfall  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  his 
adherents,  showed  a  decisive  predominance  of  the  "  new  nobility," 
who  formed  the  other  party  at  court.  Norfolk  had  hoped  to  be 
the  foremost  personage  in  the  new  reign,  and,  as  he  was  the  lay 
head  of  the  Romanists,  this  would  have  finally  secured  Gardiner 
a  triumph  in  the  ruin  of  the  Reformation.  His  fall  left  the  new 
men  supreme  in  the  councils  of  the  new  king,  and  they,  whether 
from  hope  of  getting  more  of  the  spoils  of  the  Church,  or  from 
conviction,  favoured  the  Reformers.  Things  had  gradually 
been  tending  towards  further  advance  before  Henry's  death,  and 
would  apparently  have  been  erelong  changed  greatly  in  favour 
of  evangelical  religion  had  he  lived  much  longer.  The  intrigues 
and  craft  of  Gardiner  had  led  him  to  distrust  his  party,  and  the 
burning  of  Anne  Askew  and  the  three  others  at  Smithfield,  in 
June,  1546,  had  finally  revolted  him  so  much,  that  henceforth 
the  question  of  sweeping  reform  was  only  a  matter  of  political 
policy.  "  There  will  be  a  change  of  religion  in  England,"  wrote 
Hooper  in  1546, "  and  the  king  will  take  up  the  gospel  of  Christ, 
in  case  the  emperor  should  be  defeated  :  should  the  gospel  sus- 
tain a  loss  he  will  then  retain  his  impious  mass."'    The  defeat 

*  Original  Letters,  41. 


Sg6  The  English  Reformation.  [ajj.  1547. 

of  the  German  Reformers  at  the  Battle  of  Muhlberg,  in  April, 
1547  would,  perhaps,  have  kept  him  from  making  any  great 
changes  for  a  while  longer,  but  death  cut  him  off  before  Charles 
won  that  victory. 

The  young  king's  uncles  were  the  natural  guardians  of  a 
minority,  and  might  hope  for  a  long  regency,  as  Edward  was 
only  nine  years  and  three  months  old  when  his  father  died.^ 
They  were  brothers  of  Jane  Seymour,  and  hence  inclined  to  the 
Reformers,  but  their  interest  aided  their  bias,  for  both  had 
already  benefited  by  the  lands  of  the  Church,  and  both  expected 
further  advantage  from  them.  The  elder,  now  Earl  of  Hertford, 
was  ardent,  earnest,  and  enthusiastic,  on  the  side  of  progress, 
and  though  stained  with  the  vices  of  the  age,  was  an  honest 
believer  in  liberty,  and  a  friend  of  the  people.  Of  good  abilities, 
he  was,  nevertheless,  ill-qualified  to  lead  the  nation  or  to  guard 
against  his  own  enemies,  for  he  wanted  political  sagacity,  and 
laid  himself  open  to  his  ever-watchful  enemies  by  his  rash- 
ness. 

Unwilling  to  share  power  with  a  whole  council,  Hertford's 
first  step,  which  was  at  once  sanctioned,  was  to  get  himself 
named  Protector,  acting  in  the  place  of  the  king.  Wriothesley, 
the  Chancellor,  a  bitter  Romanist — the  torturer  of  Anne  Askew 
— having  acted  in  some  things  without  the  consent  of  his  col- 
leagues, was  compelled  to  resign,  and  thus  the  field  was  left  free 
for  Hertford  and  the  Reformers.  Meanwhile,  titles  were  freely 
given,  in  alleged  accordance  with  the  will  of  Henry.  Hertford 
was  created  Duke  of  Somerset;  Lisle,  the  eldest  son  of  the 
Dudley  of  Henry  VII.'s  reign,  who  had  afterwards  been  beheaded 
for  his  extortions,  was  made  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  Wriothesley, 
to  console  him,  became  Earl  of  Southampton.  The  state  of  the 
exchequer  for  a  time  prevented  the  appropriation  of  lavish  grants 
claimed  under  the  will,  but  they  were  only  deferred. 

The  new  state  of  things  was  shown  by  an  order  at  the  first 

*  Mary  was  now  35,  Elizabeth  13. 


A.D.  iS47]  The  Protectorate.  397 

sitting  of  the  Council*  that  the  bishops  should  renew  their 
commissions.  Cranmer's  idea  that  they  held  authority  simply 
from  the  crown  was  thus  put  in  force,  and  the  episcopate  was 
formally  treated  as  only  a  creation  of  the  royal  pleasure,  in 
virtue  of  the  Act  of  Supremacy.  Their  appointments  were  held 
to  be  ended  by  the  death  of  the  reigning  prince,  and  were  now 
renewed  by  letters  patent,  during  their  good  behaviour. 

Abundant  proof  was  presently  shown  that  the  people  had  not 
been  consulted  in  the  reactionary  course  of  the  last  few  years, 
and  that  the  Reformation,  if  left  to  the  great  cities  and  towns,  at 
least,  would  have  spared  very  few  traces  of  Popery.  The  clergy 
might  be  Romanists  as  a  body,  and  the  ignorant  peasantry 
might  still  blindly  follow  them,  but  the  cities  and  towns  were 
largely  Protestant.  The  churchwardens  and  curates  of  St. 
Martin's  in  London,  of  their  own  authority  pulled  down  the 
images  of  the  saints  in  their  church :  whitewashed  the  paintings 
on  the  walls,  and  replaced  the  crucifix  by  the  royal  irms  and 
texts  of  Scripture.  The  people  of  Portsmouth  followed  their 
example ;  at  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  a  student  secretly  cut 
the  string  by  which  the  pix  was  hung  over  the  altar,  and  even 
the  Chapter  of  Canterbury,  needing  money  to  repair  the 
Cathedral,  sent  a  crucifix  and  a  pix^  to  the  mint.  An  official 
reprimand,  at  most,  followed,  nor  could  Gardiner  get  more 
satisfaction  from  Somerset  than  a  clever  retort,  that  it  was  not 
worse  to  destroy  an  image  than  to  bum  a  Bible.  The  Princess 
Mary  succeeded  no  better  in  an  attempt  to  get  things  continued 
as  Henry  had  left  them,  till  the  new  king  was  of  age. 

There  was,  indeed,  sore  need  for  sweeping  reforms.  "  As 
far  as  true  religion  is  concerned,"  writes  Hooper,  shortly  before 
Henry's  death,  "  idolatry  is  nowhere  in  greater  vigour.  Our 
king  has  destroyed  the  Pope,  but  not  Popery  :  he  has  expelled 
all  the  monks  and  nuns,  and  pulled  down  the  monasteries ;  he 

'  February  2nd,  I547» 

'  Fix— the  sacred  box  in  which  the  host  is  kept  after  consecration. 


398  The  English  Reformation.  [ad  1547. 

has  caused  all  their  possessions  to  be  transferred  into  his 
exchequer,  and  yet  they  are  bound,  even  the  frail  female  sex,  by 
the  king's  command,  to  perpetual  chastity.  England  has,  at 
this  time,  at  least  ten  thousand  nuns,  not  one  of  whom  is  allowed 
to  marry.  The  impious  mass,  the  most  shameful  celibacy  of 
the  clergy,  the  invocation  of  saints,  auricular  confession,  super- 
stitious abstinence  from  meats,  and  purgatory,  were  never  before 
held  by  the  people  in  greater  esteem  than  at  the  present  mo- 
ment."^ There  were  few  schools,  and  these  ill-supplied  and 
miserably  poor.  The  universities  were  in  the  hands  of  bigots, 
who  spent  their  strength  in  defending  absurdities,  and  neglected 
useful  learning.^  Latimer  calculated  that  the  number  of 
students  at  the  two  universities  was  fewer  by  ten  thousand  after 
the  alienation  of  abbey  and  church  lands  had  left  no  mercenary 
attractions  in  the  sacred  offices.  While  the  Church  retained  its 
immense  wealth  they  were  always  full :  but  religion  had  charms 
for  comparatively  few  when  the  golden  prospect  was  gone.  The 
monasteries  had  corrupted  the  whole  ecclesiastical  world. 
"  They  had  grown  up  into  such  monstrous  sanctuaries  for  all 
kinds  of  vice,"  says  the  apostolic  Bernard  Barton,  Rector  of 
Houghton-le-Spring,^  "  that  their  cry,  no  doubt,  like  that  of 
Sodom,  ascended  into  the  ears  of  God.  Besides,  consider  what 
pests  they  were  to  all  good  learning  and  religion ;  how  they 
preyed  upon  all  the  rectories  in  the  kingdom  ;  amassing  to  them- 
selves, for  the  support  of  their  vices,  that  wealth  which  was 
meant  by  pious  founders  for  the  maintenance  of  industrious 
clergymen." 

The  parish  priests  all  over  the  land  were,  as  a  rule,  miserably 
ignorant.  Tyndale,  so  late  as  1530,  asserted  that  there  were 
20,000  who  could  not  turn  a  line  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which 
they  repeated  in  Latin,  into  English,  and  Bishop  Hooper,  even 

^  Zurich  Letters,  36. 

*  Life  of  Bernard  Gilpin,  by  W.  Gilpin,  M.A.,  1 16. 

"  Born  151 7,  died  1583. 


AD.  1547]  Tlu  Protectorate.  399 

in  the  end  of  Edward's  reign,  found  scores  in  Gloucestershire 
who  could  not  tell  who  was  the  author  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  or 
where  it  was  to  be  found.  Many  of  the  monks  had  renounced 
the  Pope's  authority  and  sworn  allegiance  to  the  king,  that  they 
might  get  livings  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  excluding  Protest- 
ants, and  they  were  on  a  par  for  ignorance  with  the  other  rectors, 
vicars,  and  curates.  "  Their  filling  the  pulpits,"  says  Camden, 
"  they  thought  highly  meritorious,  and  hoped  the  Pope  would 
dispense  with  their  oath  on  such  an  occasion."  Many  monks, 
also,  received  benefices  to  save  their  pensions.  All  that  Cranmer 
and  his  friends  could  do  under  such  circumstances  was  to  take 
the  best  men  they  could  find,  but  even  they  were  too  often 
ignorant  enough.  "  He  knows  a  few  Latin  words,  but  no  sen- 
tences " — ^was  a  common  note  against  priests'  names  in  archi- 
diaconal  visitations,  in  an  age  when  the  whole  service  of  the 
Church  had  hitherto  been  in  that  language.  Non-residence  and 
pluralities,  the  legacy  of  the  pre-Reformation  Church,  were 
shamefully  common.  Three,  four,  and  five  livings  were  held 
by  one  man.  Preaching  was  utterly  neglected  in  many  parts. 
Some  parishes  had  had  none  for  twenty  years.  "  After  I  entered 
on  the  parish  of  Easington,"  says  Bernard  Barton,  "  and  began 
to  preach,  I  soon  procured  mighty  and  grievous  adversaries,  for 
that  I  preached  against  pluralities  and  non-residence.  Some 
said,  all  that  preached  that  doctrine  became  heretics  soon  after. 
Others  found  great  fault,  for  that  I  preached  repentance  and 
salvation  by  Christ,  and  did  not  make  whole  sermons,  as  they 
did,  about  transubstantiation,  purgatory,  holy  water,  images, 
prayers  to  saints,  and  the  like."' 

In  Houghton-le-Spring,  he  tells  us,  "  scarce  any  traces  of  true 
Christianity  were  left.  All  the  idle  ceremonies  of  Popery  were 
carried  higher  than  you  would  perhaps  elsewhere  find  them,  and 
were  considered  the  essentials  of  religion."  So  carefully,  indeed, 
had  the  bishops  and  justices  of  the  peace  kept  the  people  in 

1  Life,  81. 


400  The  Etiglish  Reformation,  [a-d,  1547. 

ignorance,  that  King  Edward's  proclamations  for  a  change  of 
worship  had  not  been  heard  of  at  the  time  of  that  prince's 
death.  Even  so  late  as  the  year  1570,  Archbishop  Grindal  had 
to  prohibit  pedlars  from  selling  their  wares  in  the  church 
porches  in  time  of  service ;  had  to  require  that  parish  clerks 
should  be  able  to  read,  and  that  no  "  lords  of  misrule,  or  sum- 
mer lords  and  ladies,  or  any  disguised  persons,  morrice-dancers 
and  others,  should  come  irreverently  into  church,  or  play  any 
unseemly  parts,  with  scoffs,  jests,  wanton  gestures,  or  ribald  talk, 
in  the  time  of  divine  service."  Even  in  the  south,  though  it  was 
much  more  civilized  than  the  north,  the  diocese  of  Ely,  which 
was  quite  as  good  as  others,  had  forty-seven  in  a  hundred  and 
fifty-six  parishes  with  no  ministers  at  all ;  fifty-seven  were  in 
the  hands  of  careless  non-residents,  and  only  fifty-two  were 
regularly  served.  The  Tudor  system  of  Reformation,  which 
gave  the  people  no  voice  whatever  in  the  changes  required, 
had  been  partial  at  best,  but  even  the  changes  made  took 
generations  to  incorporate  them  into  English  thought  and  life. 

Such  a  state  of  the  clergy,  continued  as  it  had  been  for  cen- 
turies, had  corrupted  the  whole  nation,  and  the  general  tone  of 
society  in  turn  reacted  on  the  Church.  "  The  land  is  full  of 
idle  pastors,"  says  Barton  in  his  sermon  before  Edward  VI.,' 
"  and  how  can  it  be  otherwise,  when  the  nobility  and  patrons  of 
livings  put  in  just  who  will  allow  them  to  take  out  most  profit  ? 
A  Reformation!  There  is  as  much  ignorance,  superstition,  and 
idolatry  as  ever ;  which,  as  far  as  I  can  foresee,  will  remain  :  for 
benefices  are  everywhere  so  plundered  and  robbed  by  patrons, 
that  in  a  little  time  nobody  will  bring  up  their  children  to  the 
Church.  It  is  amazing  to  see  how  the  universities  are  dimin- 
ished within  these  few  years." 

The  cry  rose,  indeed,  from  all  parts,  in  these  evil  times,  at  the 
grasping  avarice  and  tyranny  of  the  rich  and  great.  At  court, 
everything  was  bought  and  sold  :  employments,  honours,  favours 

^  1552. 


A.D.  1547.]  The  Protectorate.  401 

of  all  sorts.  Bribery  and  wrong  were  common  among  the  judges, 
and  grievous  extortions  and  frauds  disgraced  trade.    Latimer  was 
fain  to  see  the  skin  of  a  judge  hung  up  as  a  warning  to  the 
rest,  and  told  the  king,  in  a  sermon,  that  he  had  no  time  so 
much  as  to  look  on  his  book,  for  attending  to  the  cases  of  poor 
men  that  had  been  wronged  and  could  not  get  justice.     "  The 
people  are  sorely  oppressed,"  writes  Hooper,  in  1 549,  "  by  the 
marvellous   tyranny   of   the  nobiUty."      Everywhere,  the  yeo- 
manry were  being  depressed  into  labourers  by  the  system  of ' 
inclosures :  everywhere  the  old  nobility  and  the  new  were  bent 
on  seizing  all  the  land  they  could  get,  whether  that  of  the  people 
or  of  the  Church ;  and  to  the  profligate  transfer  of  Church 
lands  that  of  the  tithes  was  added,  laymen  holding  them  largely, 
as  the  monks  had  done  before  them,  to  the  perpetuation  of  the 
poverty  of  the  parish  clergy,  which  had  been  so  great  a  scandal 
for  ages.     It  was  the  misfortune  of  Cranmer  and  the  Reformers 
that  they  had  to  stand  helplessly  by  and  see  the  resources  to 
which  they  looked  for  the  regeneration  of  England  fought  for 
and  eagerly  seized  as  personal  plunder  by  men  who  pretended 
sympathy  with   them.       The  spoliation   of  the   Church   had 
been  resisted  by  the  primate  and  those  round  him  earnestly  and 
nobly,  but  was  effected  by  the  votes  of  the  Romanist  bishops,  to 
bribe  Henry  to  favour  their  side,  and  crush  their  opponents. 
Its  spoliation  by  laymen  was  opposed  as  stoutly  and  vainly. 

Death  had  been  busy  among  Cranmer's  supporters.  The 
Lord  Chancellor  Audley,  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  Sir  Edward 
Baynton,  the  first  Lord  of  the  Bedchamber, — Sir  Thomas  Poin 
ings,  the  king's  deputy  at  Calais, — Sir  Thomas  Wyat,  and  Dr. 
Butts,  the  king's  physician — all  members  of  the  privy  council, 
and  all  staunch  Reformers — had  died  of  the  plague  or  of  fever 
before  Edward's  accession,'  so  that,  to  use  Hooper's  words,  "  the 
country  was  now  left  altogether  to  the  bishops  and  those  who 
despised  God  and  all  true  religion."     But  the  new  reign  erelong 

'  Orig.  Letters,  37. 


/^02  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1547. 

drew  back  from  the  Continent  the  exiles  who  had  fled  before 
the  Six  Articles,  and  their  arrival  not  only  upheld  the  advances 
already  made,  but  marked  a  new  departure  in  the  history  of  the 
Reformation,  for  they  had  been  in  contact  with  the  Lutheranism 
of  Germany,  and  the  Puritanism  of  Geneva,  and  had  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  two  systems.  Miles  Coverdale,  Hooper,  Philpot, 
afterwards  Mary's  first  martyr,  and  Rogers,  the  editor  of  Tyn- 
dale's  Bible,  came  amongst  others.  Latimer  was  set  free  from 
the  Tower,  and,  above  all,  the  Reformers  were  strong  in  the 
Protestant  education  of  the  young  king,  and  the  Protestant 
principles  of  his  uncle,  the  Protector.  Three  of  the  bishops, 
moreover,  were  Reformers,  and  Cranmer's  chaplain,  Ridley, 
was  at  once  a  learned  and  prudent  helper.  Gardiner,  excluded 
by  Henry  from  the  regency,  could  do  little  to  hinder  the  work 
of  God. 

The  Church  was  "  little  but  a  ruinous  heap  :  its  revenues 
dissipated,  its  ministers  divided,  its  doctrines  unsettled,  and  its 
laws  obsolete,  impracticable,  and  unadapted  to  the  great  change 
it  had  sustained."^  Gross  abuses  of  every  kind  abounded: 
religion  had  to  be  rescued  from  a  heathenism  of  forms  :  men 
had  to  learn  that  heaven  was  not  a  matter  of  payment  to  the 
priest,  and  that  their  sins  could  not  be  compounded  for  money. 
The  air  reeked  with  pestilent  immorality,  inconceivable  after 
three  centuries  of  Protestantism.  However  much  there  may 
still  be  to  reform  amongst  us,  England  is  a  different  land  in  its 
higher  tone  of  Hfe  since  Popery  was  cast  out.  Christianity 
had  virtually  to  be  re-introduced  by  the  Reformers.  Yet  the 
task  needed  wisdom  no  less  than  a  lofty  ideal.  To  proceed 
too  quickly  was  dangerous,  for  Rome  was  still  strong  in  the 
ignorance  and  superstition  she  had  fostered  so  long  :  to  be  too 
cautious  would  b^  unfaithfulness.  Cranmer  and  the  friends 
of  the  Gospel  had  a  difficult  task,  but  they  set  themselves 
bravely  to  do  it. 

»  J.J.  Blunt 


An.  1547.]  The  Protectorate.  403 

A  royal  visitation  of  the  churches  was  ordered  over  all 
Fjigland,  and  a  fresh  set  of  injunctions  issued  for  the  guidance 
of  the  commissioners.  Meanwhile,  no  ministers  were  to  preach 
in  any  churches  but  their  own.  To  each  company  of  visitors 
one  or  more  preachers  were  added,  to  address  the  people  in  the 
different  circuits.  The  mode  taken  by  the  visitors,  as  shown  in 
the  case  of  St.  Paul's,  London,  was  to  summon  the  bishop  and 
the  members  of  each  cathedral,  and  administer  to  them  an  oath 
to  renounce  the  Pope,  to  uphold  the  king's  supremacy,  and  that 
they  would  make  known  whatever  needed  reformation  in  their 
church  and  diocese.  A  book  of  Homilies  had  been  already  pre- 
pared, to  assist  the  clergy  in  preaching,  and  check  their  dissemi- 
nation of  Romanism.  Copies  of  this  were  given  to  each  bishop 
for  the  churches  of  his  diocese,  and  the  injunctions  were  handed 
them  with  strict  commands  that  they  should  be  observed.  The 
canons  and  priests  were  next  examined,  on  oath,  as  to  their 
lives  and  doctrines,  with  what  result,  in  too  many  cases,  may  be 
judged  from  the  fact  that  several  of  the  canons  and  priests  of 
St.  Paul's  had  to  own  that  they  were  leading  immoral  lives. 
But  under  men  like  Bonner  and  Gardiner  what  could  be  expected 
of  the  clergy  at  large  ? 

The  injunctions  throw  interesting  light  on  the  state  of  things 
from  which  Cranmer  and  his  fellows  deUvered  the  nation.  They 
required  that  all  the  clergy,  of  every  rank,  should  keep  the 
statutes  already  passed  respecting  the  Pope  and  the  Church,  and 
the  royal  supremacy.  They  were  not  to  "  extol  or  set  forth  any 
images,  relics,  or  miracles,  for  superstition  or  lucre,  nor  allure 
the  people  to  pilgrimage  to  saints  or  images,"  but  "to  teach  that 
all  goodness,  health,  and  grace,  ought  to  be  both  asked  and 
looked  for  only  of  God,  and  of  none  other." 

All  the  clergy  were  to  preach  at  least  four  times  a  year, 
"purely  and  sincerely  declaring  the  Word  of  God,  and  exhorting 
their  hearers  to  the  works  of  faith,  mercy,  and  charity,  specially 
prescribed  and  commanded  in  Scripture, "  and  showing  them 
that  "  works  devised  by  men's  fantasies,  such  as  wandering  to 


404  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1547. 

pilgrimages,  offering  of  money,  candles,  or  tapers,  to  relics,  or 
images,  or  kissing  or  licking  them,  &c.,"  tended  to  idolatry  and 
superstition,  and  were  contrary  to  Scripture. 

Images  abused  by  being  made  objects  of  pilgrimage  or 
offerings,  or  being  honoured  with  incense  burned  to  them,  were 
to  be  destroyed,  and  no  torches,  candles,  tapers,  or  images  of 
wax  were  to  be  set  before  either  image  or  picture.  Two  lights 
on  the  "  altar  "  might  remain,  to  signify  that  Christ  is  the  light 
of  the  world,  and  images  when  retained  were  to  be  declared 
only  a  remembrance  of  the  holy  lives  of  those  they  repre- 
sented. 

On  every  holy  day  the  clergy  were  to  recite  openly  and  plainly 
from  the  pulpit  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments in  English,  "  to  the  intent  the  people  may  learn  the 
same  by  heart ;"  and  all  parents  and  householders  were  to  be  ex- 
horted to  teach  them  to  their  families. 

Parents  and  others  were  to  be  counselled  to  set  their  children 
and  servants  from  their  childhood  "  either  to  learning  or  to 
some  honest  exercise,  occupation,  or  husbandry  " — to  prevent 
future  idleness.  The  due  and  reverent  ministering  of  the 
sacraments  was  to  be  provided  for.  When  necessarily  absent 
from  their  cures,  the  clergy  were  to  see  that  they  left  them,  not 
to  "  rude  and  unlearned  persons,  but  to  honest,  well-learned,  and 
expert  curates."  Within  three  months  a  copy  of  the  whole 
Bible,  "  of  the  largest  volume,  in  English,  was  to  be  procured 
and  set  up  in  every  church,"  for  many  were  still  without  one, 
the  old  clergy  still  offering  a  stubborn  resistance  to  Bible- 
reading  by  the  laity,  notwithstanding  previous  injunctions. 
Once  more  they  were  commanded  to  discourage  no  man 
"  authorized  and  licensed  thereto  "  from  reading  any  part  of  it, 
in  English  or  Latin,  but  rather  to  "  comfort  and  exhort  every 
person  to  read  it."  To  assist  its  intelligent  study  a  copy  of 
Erasmus'  "  Paraphrase  of  the  New  Testament,"  in  English,  then 
the  only  one  in  existence,  was  ordered  to  be,  likewise,  set  up 
in  every  church;  a  book  which  even  so  sensitive  a  critic  as 


A.D.  1547-]  The  Protectorate*  405 

Herder  says  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold  for  its  clearness  of 
thought  and  beauty  of  language,  ^  and  which  our  own  Milman 
pronounces  "  invaluable."''  Hitherto  the  sense  of  Scripture  had 
been  buried  under  layers  of  mystic,  allegorical,  scholastic,  and 
traditional  interpretation,  and  we  can  hardly,  therefore,  conceive 
the  service  rendered  by  the  diffusion  of  an  Exposition  which, 
for  the  first  time,  after  ages,  swept  aside  all  this  accumulation, 
and  put  within  the  reach  of  all  the  pure  gold  of  the  plain,  literal 
meaning  of  the  sacred  writings.  Erasmus,  the  "  odious  bird  " 
as  Gardiner  called  him,  "  which  had  laid  the  ^%%  hatched  by 
Luther :"  the  satirist  whose  words  like  earthquake-waves  had 
spread  over  Christendom  and  shaken  the  vast  fabric  of  re- 
ligious imposture  and  corruption:  the  scholar  whose  labours 
had  quickened  and  widened  the  zeal  of  the  age  for  the  New 
Learning  in  its  earlier  stages :  the  Biblical  critic  whose  Greek 
Testament  had  led  the  world  back,  after  centuries  of  night,  to 
the  pure  day  of  the  written  Word,  thus  became  the  pattern  of 
sacred  interpretation  for  all  succeeding  ages  of  the  English 
Church. 

The  injunctions  went  on  to  forbid  any  clergymen  frequenting 
taverns  or  ale-houses,  giving  themselves  to  drinking  or  riot, 
spending  their  time  idly  at  dice,  cards,  tables,  or  gambling — a 
mark  of  the  condition  of  the  order  in  those  days.  No  one  was  to 
be  "  confessed  "  who  could  not  recite  "  the  articles  of  their  faith, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Commandments  in  English  :" 
no  one  was  to  be  allowed  to  preach  without  a  license,  and  a 
register  was  to  be  kept  in  the  churches  of  all  baptisms,  marriages, 
and  burials;  a  splendid  step  in  advance.  Penance  was  no 
longer  to  be  commuted  for  money. :  and  it  was  to  be  seen  that 
*'  excessive  sums  were  not  taken  "  for  "  religious  services,"  for 
"  the  concealment  of  vice,"  or  for  "  induction  into  benefices." 
Every  beneficed  clergyman  with  an  income  of  ^^20  was  to  give 

^  Briefe  Uber  das  Stadiom  der  Theologie.     Brief,  23. 
'  Essays,  121. 


4o6  The  English  Reformation,  [a.d.  1547. 

ten  shillings  a  year  to  the  poor  :  every  one  who  had  ^^loo  a 
year  was  to  give  an  exhibition  to  a  scholar  in  one  of  the 
universities,  and  another  for  each  additional  /lOO.  Twenty 
per  cent,  of  the  incomes  was  to  be  spent  yearly  on  the  churches 
and  parsonages  till  they  were  put  in  perfect  repair,  for  in  many 
parts  the  priests  were  wilfully  letting  them  go  to  ruin  ;  and 
every  clergyman  was  to  buy  for  himself,  within  three  months, 
a  Latin  and  English  New  Testament,  and  a  copy  of  Erasmus' 
"  Paraphrase."  The  Epistles  and  Gospels  were  to  be  read  in 
church  in  English,  and  two  lessons  in  English,  from  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  were  to  be  read,  as  now,  during  each  public 
service.  All  processions  about  the  church  or  churchyard  were 
forbidden,  except  that,  "  before  high  mass,  the  priests  shall 
kneel  in  the  midst  of  the  church  and  sing  or  say,  distinctly,  the 
Litany,  in  English.  All  ringing  of  bells  during  service  was  pro- 
hibited, except  one  bell  to  be  rung  before  the  sermon,  to  call 
men  to  it.  The  people  were  to  be  taught  from  the  pulpit  the 
superstition  and  sin  of  many  of  the  practices  in  use,  such  as 
casting  holy  water  about  one's  bed,  upon  images  and  other  dead 
things,  or  carrying  on  his  person  holy  bread,  or  St,  John's 
Gospel,  or  making  wooden  crosses  on  Palm  Sunday  "in  time  of 
reading  of  the  Passion,"  or  keeping  of  private  holy  days  "  as 
bakers,  brewers,  smiths,  shoemakers,  and  such  others  do  "  in 
honour  of  their  patron  saints ;  or  ringing  holy  bells,  or  blessing 
with  the  holy  candle  to  discharge  the  burden  of  sin,  or  drive 
away  devils,  or  put  away  dreams.  A  poor's  box  was  to  be  put 
up  in  each  church  for  contributions,  and  men  making  their  wills 
were  to  be  exhorted  to  leave  to  it  part  at  least  of  the  money 
they  formerly  gave  for  pardons,  pilgrimages,  trentals,  decking  of 
images,  offering  of  candles,  giving  to  friars,  &c.  If  more  were 
received  than  the  poor  needed,  the  surplus  might  be  devoted  to 
mending  the  roads,  or  repairing  the  church,  church  funds 
rising  from  other  sources  being  added  to  the  amount.  King 
Henry's  "  English  Primer "  was  to  be  used  by  all  for  private 
devotion,  and  all  chantry  priests  were  to  be  diligent "  in  teaching 


A.D.  1547-]  TJie  Protectorate.  /iflj 

youth  to  read  and  write,  and  bring  them  up  in  good  manners 
and  other  virtuous  exercises."  ^ 

Both  the  Injunctions  and  Homilies  roused  furious  oppo- 
sition; Gardiner  and  Bonner  in  particular  protesting  against 
them.  The  heads  of  the  reactionary  party  had  finally  renounced 
the  sympathy  for  the  New  Learning  of  men  like  Warham,  and 
had  come  to  denounce  even  Erasmus  as  vehemently  as  their 
predecessors  applauded  him. 

Edward  had  begun  his  reign  in  January,  and  all  this  had  been 
done  before  Parliament  and  Convocation  met  in  November. 
Momentous  changes  were  to  be  introduced  by  these.  Convo- 
cation, led  by  Cranmer,  and  unable  to  oppose  the  wish  of  the 
dominant  party,  unanimously  ordered  that  henceforth  the  "  body 
of  the  Lord  was  to  be  received  under  both  kinds,  namely,  of 
bread  and  wine,"  and  the  first  Act  passed  by  Parliament  con- 
firmed this  return  to  ancient  practice.  The  Six  Articles,  with 
every  other  penal  Act  relating  to  "doctrine  and  matters  of 
religion,"  were  repealed,  though  offences  against  the  royal 
supremacy,  or  such  as  came  within  the  reach  of  common  law, 
were  still  expressly  held  liable  to  indictment. 

Reform  was  now  steadily  advancing.  To  check  the  disturb- 
ance between  the  Old  and  New  parties,  as  well  as  to  put  down 
superstition,  the  practice  of  carrying  candles  on  Candlemas 
day,*  of  bearing  ashes  on  Ash  Wednesday,  or  palms  on  Palm 
Sunday,  were  put  down;  but  at  the  same  time  only  these  and 
such  changes  as  were  authorized  were  permitted.  The  repeal 
of  the  Six  Articles  had  been  followed  by  a  resolution  of  Convo- 
cation, passed  by  fifty-three  voices  against  twenty-two,  repealing 
all  prohibition  against  the  marriage  of  priests,  though  the  Act 
of  Parliament  required  was  not  passed  till  later.  King  Henry's 
proposal  to  turn  the  mass  into  a  communion,  which  Cranmer  so 
much  desired,  was  now  also  carried  towards  realization,  but  with 
the  same  caution  as  marked  all  his  other  steps.   A  series  of  queries 


*  Strype's  Cranmer,  iL  456  £  '  See  page  362. 


408  The  English  Reformation.  [a-d.  1547. 

on  tlie  subject  was  circulated  among  the  bishops  and  leading 
clergy,  that  the  answers  might  bring  the  whole  question  into  dis- 
cussion. But  the  ecclesiastical  mind,  ever  slow  to  change,  was  as 
yet  unprepared  to  move  in  this  matter,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
Cranmer  himself,  and  Ridley,  now  Bishop  of  Rochester,  all  the 
dignitaries  and  others  addressed  clung  to  the  Romish  doctrine. 
Reformation  always  springs  from  the  laity,  and  is  only  adopted 
by  the  clergy  of  any  Church  after  pubUc  opinion  has  made  it 
orthodox.  Ever  zealous  in  educating  the  people,  Cranmer  issued 
a  catechism,  which  he  had  modified  from  a  German  original. 
It  is  interesting  as  having  led  to  his  first  public  repudiation  of 
the  mass,  for  the  picture,  in  the  original,  of  a  priest  putting  the 
wafer  into  the  commvmicant's  mouth,  was  changed  for  one 
representing  Christ  eating  His  Last  Supper  with  His  disciples, 
and  it  was  said  that  "in  the  sacrament  we  receive  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  spiritually"  only.  He  also  published  a  treatise 
to  prove  that  Scripture  was  the  one  rule  of  faith,  by  which  every- 
thing must  be  justified.  One  passage  in  it  is  interesting  even 
yet  for  the  lurid  glare  it  sheds  over  the  "  pre-reformation 
Church."  After  making  a  heavy  complaint  of  the  frequency  of 
adultery,  and  even  worse,  among  the  clergy,  Cranmer  adds, 
"And  in  my  memory,  which  is  now  above  thirty  years,  and  also 
by  the  information  of  others  twenty  years  older  than  I  am,  I 
could  never  learn  that  one  priest  was  punished."  To  revive  the 
universities,  he  used  all  his  influence  at  court  to  have  their  privi- 
leges confirmed,  and  a  stop  put  to  the  plunder  of  ecclesiastical 
preferments  by  greedy  courtiers.  Somerset  already  held  a 
deanery,  a  cathedral  treasurership,  and  four  prebends,  and  his 
son  had  three  hundred  pounds  a  year  from  a  bishopric,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  practice  revived  by  Henry  VIII.,  against  which 
the  Reformers  had  fought  so  bravely.  But  it  was  an  uphill 
struggle,  where  despotism  and  self-interest  had  the  vantage- 
ground.  Yet  much  had  been  done.  Cranmer  himself  sums  up 
the  changes  hitherto  effected,  in  his  Homily  on  Good  Works, 
thus : — "  Briefly,   to  pass  over  the  ungodly  and    counterfeit 


A.D.  1547. 1548.]  The  Protectorate.  409 

religion  (of  monks  and  friars),  let  us  rehearse  some  other  kinds 
of  papistical  superstitions  and  abuses  (removed),  as  of  beads,  of 
Lady-psalters,  and  rosaries,  of  fifteen  O  V  of  St.  Bernard's  verses, 
of  St.  Agatha's  letters,'*  of  purgatory,  of  masses  satisfactory,  of 
stations  and  jubilees,  of  feigned  relics,  of  hallowed  beads,  bells, 
bread,  water,  palms,  candles,  fire,  and  such  other ;  of  super- 
stitious fastings,  of  fraternities,  of  brotherhoods,  of  pardons,  and 
such-hke  merchandise,  &c.  &c." 

The  project  of  marrying  Edward  to  the  yoxmg  Princess  Mary 
of  Scotland  might  have  ripened  peacefully,  and  brought  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  nearer,  even  if  it  had  never  been  realized, 
had  Somerset  been  firm  or  wise.  The  Romish  party  in  Scot- 
land, under  Cardinal  Beaton,  were  determined  to  thwart  it,  but 
his  murder  removed  that  hindrance.  Somerset,  however,  left 
the  English  party — that  is,  the  Reformers — to  be  besieged  in 
St.  Andrews  by  the  French,  to  whom  they  had  to  surrender, 
and  then  madly  resolved  to  force  Scotland  to  keep  the  marriage 
treaty,  by  an  invasion.  A  great  English  victory  followed,  at 
Pinkey,near  Musselburgh,  on  September  10, 1 547,  but  it  naturally 
ruined  the  English  cause.  Mary,  not  long  after,  was  spirited  off 
to  France,  with  what  results  both  countries  were  erelong  to  feel. 

The  determined  opposition  of  Bormer  and  Gardiner  to  every 
proposal  of  reform  in  the  Church  had  led  to  both  being  cast 
into  Fleet  prison,  but  Bonner  recanted  presently,  and  Gardiner 
was  released  in  January,  only,  however,  to  be  imprisoned  next 
June,  till  the  accession  of  Mary.  The  barbarity  of  the  age,  as 
well  as  its  unprincipled  passion  for  money,  marked  these 
months  by  a  law  against  idle  persons,  which  was  so  savage,  it 
had  to  be  repealed  two  years  after.  Any  person  "  loitering, 
without  work,  three  days  together,"  could  be  taken  before  a 
justice ;  branded  on  the  breast  with  a  V,  for  vagabond,  and 
sentenced   to  two  years'  slavery,  during  which   he  might  be 

*  Fifteen  prayers  of  magical  power,  beginning  with  O. 

■  Golden  letters  from  the  Virgin,  warning  Frederic  II.  to  protect  St  Agatha. 


4IO  The  English  Reformation.  ia.d.  1548, 

punished  by  "  beating,  chaining,  or  the  like ; "  attempts  to 
escape  incurring  slavery  for  life,  with  an  additional  branding  of 
S,  to  mark  the  fact.  The  harpies  of  the  court  passed  another 
law  equally  hateful,  sweeping  into  the  treasury,  or  rather,  mostly 
into  their  own  pockets,  "  all  colleges,  chantries,  and  free 
chapels,"  for  the  retention  of  which  for  education  and  religion 
Cranmer  and  his  friends  had  so  earnestly  striven.  Heading  the 
opposition,  he  once  more  attempted  to  prevent  it,  but  in  vain. 
The  light  had  a  sore  struggle  with  the  legacy  of  darkness  left 
by  Rome. 

A  proclamation  issued  in  1548  gives  another  glimpse  of 
this  chaos.  The  profound  corruption  of  the  past  took  long  to 
overcome.  As  in  German  the  word  for  a  public  fair  is  "messe," 
the  mass, — from  fairs,  with  all  their  uproar,  being  habitually  held 
at  church  doors,  on  Sundays  and  holy  days,  when  mass  was 
celebrated, — the  churches  in  England  had  been  desecrated  by 
similar  irreverence,  and  now,  in  the  fierce  strife  between  the  old 
and  the  new,  the  turmoil  too  often  passed  from  the  doors  to  the 
interior.  "  Frays,  quarrels,  riots,  and  bloodsheddings  "  were  not 
infrequent  between  the  infuriated  partisans  of  the  opposite 
creeds :  horses  and  mules  were  brought  into  and  through 
churches,  and  hand-guns  were  fired  off ;  at  times,  perhaps,  in 
contempt  of  the  fancied  idolatry  practised  in  too  many,  but  as 
a  rule,  doubtless,  by  the  half-savage  population  who  had  been 
left  by  the  priests  to  sink  into  heathenism,  and  now  found  the 
churches,  as  Bernard  Barton  tells  us,  largely  deserted  by  their 
incumbents,  from  sheer  indifference  and  worldliness.  Indeed 
it  is  hard  to  imagine  that  when  churches  were  in  use  they 
could  be  made  "  like  a  stable  or  a  common  inn :"  such  abuses 
point  rather  to  the  worthlessness  of  a  non-resident  clergy,  whose 
abandoned  and  neglected  churches  were  left  month  by  month 
unused  for  any  sacred  purpose.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
the  incumbents,  with  very  few  exceptions,  were  still  the  men  of 
the  former  system,  and  what  their  churches  were,  too  often,  the 
injunctions  have  shown. 


A.D.  1548]  The  Protectorate.  411 

But  the  savagery  of  some  districts,  and  the  theological  hatreds 
of  others,  were  not  the  only  evils.  The  spoilir^  of  the  monas- 
teries had  set  the  example  of  the  wrecking  of  sacred  buildings, 
and  too  many  of  the  upper  classes,  and  even  of  the  clergy  and 
churchwardens,  eager  for  plunder,  hit  on  the  plan  of  pretending 
commissions  from  the  crown,  to  strip  the  churches  of  their 
chalices,  silver  crosses,  bells,  jewels,  and  costly  ornaments,  for 
their  own  profit.  In  great  revolutions,  as  in  war,  lawlessness 
riots,  and  the  Council  had  now  to  interfere.  Sacrilege  was  not 
to  be  tolerated  except  when  committed  by  themselves,  or  on 
their  own  behalf. 

But  order  was  slowly  rising  out  of  the  anarchy  which  more 
or  less  fills  the  interval  of  transition  from  the  old  to  the  new,  in 
all  cases.  The  removal  of  all  images  from  the  churches  had 
anticipated  and  prevented  an  outburst  of  fanaticism  like  that  of 
the  image-breakers  of  the  Netherlands  :  the  change  of  the 
mass  to  a  communion-service  had  led  the  way  to  a  repudiation 
of  the  Romish  doctrine  ;  confession  had  been  made  optional ; 
and  the  English  Bible  and  English  prayers  were  working  like 
leaven  in  the  popular  conscience.  But,  throughout,  a  spirit  of 
moderation  and  compromise  marked  every  step  of  the  Re- 
formers. Unwilling  on  one  side  to  shock,  and  perhaps  rouse 
into  fury,  the  hereditary  prejudices  of  the  country-people,  and 
anxious,  on  the  other,  to  check  the  unregulated  zeal  of  extreme 
opinions,  everything  was  done  by  slow  and  imperfect  advances. 
The  result,  however,  was  unhappy,  as  all  compromises  in 
matters  of  conscience  must  always  be.  Gardiner  and  his  party 
were  furious  at  the  desecration  of  the  mass  and  the  confessional, 
even  in  part,  and  the  extreme  Protestants  were  hardly  less  so 
that  the  whole  body  of  Popish  imposture,  which  had  so  long 
flourished,  should  not  be  removed.  It  seemed  like  mere  worldly 
policy  rather  than  the  earnestness  of  sincere  conviction,  and 
voices  rose  high  against  it  on  every  side.  But  had  Cranmer's 
successors  only  been  as  wise  as  he,  and  continued,  step  by  step, 
the  introduction  of  a  thoroughly  evangelical  system,  weeding 


412  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1548, 

out,  as  the  nation  was  fit  to  bear  it,  the  last  fibres  of  sacerdotal- 
ism, we  should  have  been  spared  many  painful  chapters  in 
our  ecclesiastical  history.  Nor  would  there  ever  have  been  any 
Puritan  dissent,  to  threaten  the  very  existence  of  the  Church. 
But  the  men  of  Elizabeth's  day  were  unhappily  cowed  by  the 
royal  will,  and  proclaimed  a  "  finality"  when  progress  was 
more  than  ever  imperative.  No  sane  man  would  refuse  to 
admit  the  necessity  there  has  been,  from  time  to  time,  of 
reform,  peaceful  and  moderate,  in  our  political  constitution, 
and  surely  there  must  be  as  much  need  of  it  in  our  ecclesi- 
astical. Timely  reform,  indeed,  is  the  one  escape  from  revolu- 
tion in  the  Church  as  in  the  State,  and  the  catastrophes  in  our 
ecclesiastical  history  have  risen  solely  from  the  mad  attempt 
to  stand  still  while  the  world  was  moving.  May  the  lessons  of 
the  past  be  a  warning  for  the  future  !  Wise  concession,  where 
there  is  reason  for  it,  is  ever  the  truest  conservatism. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

DEATH  OF  EDWARD  VI. 

THE  year  1548  is  for  ever  notable  in  the  history  of  the 
Reformation  as  that  in  which  Cranmer  and  his  col- 
leagues prepared  for  it  the  priceless  gift  of  our  English  Liturgy. 
The  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Commandments,  and  the 
Communion  had  already  been  given  to  the  people  in  English, 
but  much  remained  in  the  Service,  of  the  old  corruptions  of 
Popery,  to  which  the  bulk  of  the  clergy,  often  old  monks, 
tenaciously  clung.  One  complete  Service-book  for  the  realm 
was  the  only  remedy  for  ever-increasing  irregularities,  and  this 
was  now  resolved  upon.  A  commission  of  six  bishops — not 
including  Gardiner  or  Bonner,  but,  all,  men  appointed  in  Crom- 
well's day  or  since,  and  hence  favourable  to  the  Reformation, 
with  six  of  the  most  learned  of  the  Reforming  clergy,  Cranmer, 
as  primate,  presiding — was  appointed  to  prepare  the  new  book. 
It  was  finished  and  passed  in  Convocation  in  November,  and 
received  the  final  sanction  of  Parliament  in  January,  1549, 
Gardiner  being  safe  in  the  Tower,  and  unable  to  hinder  it. 

With  the  truest  wisdom,  the  commissioners  shrank  from 
attempting  to  compose  an  original  Liturgy,  and  chose  rather 
to  use,  as  far  as  might  be,  the  treasures  which  the  past  had 
bequeathed  them.  Hence,  whatever  was  best  in  the  Romish 
Missal  and  Breviary  was  retained,  for  it  had  not  become  Romish 
by  having  been  for  a  time. used  by  Rome.     Ancient  liturgies, 


414  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1549. 

collects,  and  offices  had  happily  survived,  and  frona  these  the 
noblest  were  selected,  Cranmer  translating  many  of  them  him- 
self into  the  grand  English  of  which  he  was  so  great  a  master. 
The  present  and  the  future  of  the  Church  were  thus  happily 
linked  to  the  past :  the  true  spiritual  continuity  of  faith  and 
worship  from  the  earliest  ages  preserved,  and  a  fulness  and 
incomparable  grandeur  secured  for  our  formularies  which  the 
labours  of  no  one  generation  could  have  produced. 

To  this  crowning  service  of  Cranmer  England  is  indebted, 
next  to  his  gift  to  it  of  the  English  Bible,  for  the  permanence  of 
the  Reformation.  The  people  could  now,  for  the  first  time  in 
their  history,  join  intelligently  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  unite 
their  voices  and  hearts  in  the  devotions  of  His  House.  Rome 
had  used  an  unknown  tongue,  and  had  made  the  whole  service 
a  performance  of  priests,  in  which  the  congregation  had  neither 
sympathy  nor  share.  The  Reformers  gave  back  to  their 
countrymen  what  had  originally  been  theirs,  the  power  and 
right  of  taking  part  in  the  worship  of  their  Maker.  The  clergy- 
man, henceforth,  was  only  the  leader  of  the  common  devotions  of 
his  flock:  the  offices,  from  first  to  last,  were  in  English,  and  the 
simplest  peasant  could  join  in  ascriptions  of  praise  and  entreaties 
for  pardon,  which  rose  from  minister  and  congregation  alike. 

The  happy  contrast  between  the  English  Prayer-book  and 
the  books  of  devotion  it  superseded  was  recognized  at  once  by 
the  people.  Not  only  was  the  service  now  in  their  own 
language  ;  Scripture  lessons  were  introduced  instead  of  monkish 
legends ;  the  Bible  was  read  through  without  interruptions ; 
the  Hail  Mary  omitted ;  the  Lord's  Prayer  repeated  audibly, 
not  in  secret ;  monkish  metrical  hymns  cut  out ;  prayers  for 
the  dead  removed,  along  with  invocations  of  saints,  and  super- 
stitious consecrations  and  exorcisms ;  while  the  Absolution  was 
turned  into  a  prayer,  instead  of  being  a  declaration  of  affected 
priestly  power.  Still  more,  the  Prayer-book  appealed  solely  to 
the  Bible,  and  stripped  the  mysteries  of  the  Church  of  all  dis- 
guise, raising  the  standing  of  the  people  as  much  as  it  lowered 


A.D.  1549]  Death  of  Edward  VI.  415 

the  arrogant  claims  of  the  Romish  priesthood.  No  wonder  it 
was  hailed  with  delight  by  the  nation.  Its  use  had  been 
appointed  to  begin  at  Whit  Sunday,  but  in  some  places  men 
could  not  wait  so  long,  and  introduced  it  at  Easter.  There 
was  a  magic  in  the  sound  of  their  native  tongue  in  the  House 
of  God,  which  drew  multitudes  everywhere  to  hear  it.  The 
Popish  books  of  devotion  almost  immediately  fell  into  disuse, 
and  were  soon  after  orderq^  to  be  abolished  and  destroyed. 

So  pronounced  an  advance  could  not,  however,  be  made 
without  some  commotion.  The  mass  of  the  parish  priests, 
wedded  to  the  corruptions  of  Rome,  opposed  it  bitterly,  and 
spread  disaffection  among  the  ignorant  peasantry,  like  that  of 
the  days  of  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace. 

Somerset's  misgovernment,  moreover,  created  a  general 
dissatisfaction.  He  had  emptied  the  exchequer,  and  sanctioned 
the  Council  in  debasing  the  coin ;  he  had  borrowed  from  foreign 
Jews  at  usurious  interest ;  stooped  to  the  meanest  acts  to  raise 
money,  the  very  lead  being  stripped  from  church  roofs,  and  the 
bells  taken  from  towers  and  steeples ;  and  all  this  had  raised 
prices,  sapped  public  morality,  and  turned  men  against  the 
Reformation,  with  which  the  Protector  was  identified.  The 
expenses  of  the  court,  meanwhile,  had  risen  from  ;^i  9,000  in 
1532,  to /" 1 00,000  in  1549.  The  chantry  lands,  which  should 
have  been  sold  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  State,  were  passing 
into  the  hands  of  the  same  parties  as  had  swallowed  the  abbey 
lands  already.  Dishonesty  was  universal  in  the  public  service, 
all  alike  contending  with  each  other  in  the  struggle  for  plunder. 
The  weakness  of  Government  had  led  to  practical  anarchy  in 
many  counties.  Cathedral  chapters,  country  squires,  knights, 
all,  indeed,  who  had  the  chance,  vied  in  wrecking  what 
remained  to  the  Church.  The  halls  of  country  mansions  were 
hung  with  altar-cloths  :  couches  and  beds  were  quilted  with 
copes  ;  men  drank  their  wine  out  of  chalices,  and  watered  their 
horses  in  marble  coffins.  The  incapacity  and  want  of  principle 
of  those  at  the  head  of  affairs  had  led  to  a  social  chaos  which 
19 


4l6  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1549 

was  declared  by  the  priests  to  be  the  result  of  leaving  Mother 
Church  and  taking  up  with  the  New  Doctrines. 

Risings  forthwith  broke  out  in  different  parts,  with  demands 
for  political  reforms,'  mixed  up  with  a  cry  for  the  revival  of  the 
Six  Articles,  the  restoration  of  the  mass  in  Latin,  the  hanging 
up  of  the  sacrament  for  worship  ;  its  administration  in  one  kind  ; 
the  re-introduction  of  images  and  holy  water,  and  of  prayers 
for  the  souls  in  purgatory;  the  suppression  of  the  English 
Bible ;  and  the  bringing  back  of  the  monks  and  friars.  No 
heavier  indictment  could  be  urged  against  the  old  system  than 
such  demands.  Cornwall  and  Devon  in  the  west,  and  Norfolk 
soon  after,  rose  in  revolt,  and  could  only  be  overcome  by  the 
use  against  them  of  a  force  of  German  mercenaries  which 
Somerset  had  gathered  for  a  third  invasion  of  Scotland- 

Meanwhile,  the  court  had  been  distracted  with  wretched 
plots,  which  led  to  the  miserable  spectacle  of  Somerset  ordering 
the  execution  of  his  brother,  Lord  Seymour,  who  was  attainted 
and  condemned,  as  the  evil  custom  was,  without  a  hearing. 
That  he  was  guilty  of  crimes  thought  worthy  of  death,  may, 


'  There  is  so  striking  a  similarity  between  the  demands  and  complaints 
of  the  agricultural  labourers  of  the  Tudor  period  (see  pp.  109,  225,)  and  those 
of  the  same  class  at  the  present  day,  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  re- 
producing the  following  petition  to  Parliament  from  the  Hampshire  pea- 
santry, September,  1878: — "That  your  petitioners,  seeing  that  the  popu- 
lation of  this  country  has  increased  to  an  extent  which  the  limited  area 
of  the  United  Kingdom  cannot  feed,  save  by  greatly  increased  cultivation 
of  the  soil,  do  therefore  pray  that  a  Bill  may  be  framed  giving  all  culti- 
vable land  into  the  charge  of  a  special  representative  body,  compensating 
present  owners  according  to  taxes  they  pay  ;  limiting  the  extent  of  woods 
and  parks  ;  confining  game  to  aviaries,  pens,  and  closes  ;  abolishing  the 
Game  Laws,  and  removing  the  unpaid  magistrates  ;  officially  assessing 
mansions  which  are  now  almost  untaxed ;  breaking  up  all  poor  permanent 
pasture  fit  for  arable,  and  preventing  further  grass-sowing  for  pasture  ; 
granting  to  the  farmers  the  greatest  privileges  and  securities  for  the 
highest  cultivation,  and  thus  finding  abundant  remunerative  emplo)rment 
for  labour  as  well  as  cheap  food  for  the  people." 


A-D  «548.]  Death  of  Edward  VI.  417 

however,  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  Cranmer  signed  the 
warrant  for  his  execution,  and  from  the  evidence  of  Latimer ;  * 
but  the  sight  of  an  uncle  of  the  king  beheaded  and  quartered 
by  his  brother  was  none  the  less  demoralizing. 

One  voice  was  heard  amidst  all  these  confusions,  bravely 
praising  the  right  and  condemning  the  evil  in  all  classes  alike 
— that  of  Hugh  Latimer.  From  his  sermons  we  may  gather  a 
picture  of  the  age  which  makes  one  almost  wonder  that  in  such 
a  dissolution  of  all  public  worth  the  Evangelical  party  could  do 
even  so  much  as  they  did.  The  idleness  of  the  bishops,  the 
vices  of  the  clergy,  the  shameful  oppression  of  the  poor  by 
the  great,  the  plunder  of  the  Church,  and  impoverishment  of 
its  ministers  by  the  alienation  of  their  incomes  to  laymen,  he 
denounced  with  a  grand  fidelity.  What  must  have  been  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  apostolic  men  like  him  when  he  could 
speak  thus  ? — "  Ever  smce  the  prelates  were  made  lords  and 
nobles  the  work  of  the  Gospel  plough  standeth  :  there  is  no 
work  done,  the  people  starve.  They  hawk,  they  hunt,  they 
card,  they  dice:  they  pastime  in  their  prelacies  with  gallant 
gentlemen,  with  their  dancing  minions,  and  their  fresh  com- 
panions, so  that  preaching  is  clean  gone."  "  And  now  I  yi^ould 
ask  a  strange  question.  Who  is  the  most  diligent  bishop  and 
prelate  in  all  England,  that  passes  all  the  rest  in  doing  his 
office  ?  I  can  tell,  for  I  know  him  who  it  is,  I  know  him 
well.  But  now  I  think  I  see  you  listening  and  hearkening  that 
I  should  name  him.  There  is  one  that  passes  all  others,  and  is 
the  most  diligent  prelate  and  preacher  in  all  England.  And 
will  ye  know  who  it  is  ?  I  will  tell  you  :  it  is  the  devil.  He  is 
the  most  diligent  of  all  preachers :  he  is  never  out  of  his 
diocese  :  he  is  never  out  of  his  cure :  ye  shall  never  find  him 
unoccupied ;  he  is  ever  in  his  parish  :  he  keeps  residence  at  all 
times.  And  his  office  is  to  hinder  religion,  to  maintain  super- 
stition,  to  set   up  idolatry,  to  maintain  all  kinds  of  Popery. 

'  Latimerjaze/writingsof  his  plotting  the  Protector's  death.  Sermons,  i6i. 


41 8  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  154& 

Where  the  devil  is  resident  and  has  his  plough  going,  there, 
away  with  books,  and  up  with  candles  ;  away  with  Bibles,  and 
up  with  beads  ;  away  with  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  and  up  with 
the  light  of  candles,  yea,  at  noon-day.  Where  the  devil  is 
resident,  that  he  may  prevail,  up  with  all  superstition  and  idolatry; 
censing,  painting  of  images,  candles,  palms,  ashes,  holy  water, 
and  new  service  of  men's  inventing.  Down  with  Christ's  cross, 
up  with  purgatory  pick-purse,  up  with  him,  the  Popish  purga- 
tory, I  mean.  Away  with  clothing  the  naked,  the  poor,  and 
impotent;  up  with  decking  of  images,  and  gay  garnishing  of 
stocks  and  stones  ;  up  with  men's  traditions  and  laws,  and  down 
with  God's  traditions  and  His  most  Holy  Word.  Let  all  things 
be  done  in  Latin  :  there  must  be  nothing  but  Latin  :  even  the 
words  '  Remember,  man,  that  thou  art  ashes,  and  into  ashes 
thou  shalt  return,' — which  are  the  words  spoken  by  the 
minister  to  the  ignorant  people  when  he  gives  them  ashes  on 
Ash  Wednesday, — must  be  spoken  in  Latin.  God's  Word  may 
in  no  wise  be  translated  into  English."^ 

What  must  have  been  the  state  of  religion  in  England  to 
make  such  a  sermon  possible  ?  Yet  it  was  from  this  almost 
bottcynless  gulf  of  ignorance,  superstition,  and  corruption,  the 
result  of  centuries  of  Popery,  that  evangelical  truth  had  to 
rescue  the  land  in  the  face  of  the  shameless  Church  plunder, 
by  every  party  in  turn,  and  of  the  grossest  misgovernment. 
No  wonder  if  old  abuses  died  hard  and  slowly.  It  was  at  least 
a  good  sign  that  a  preacher  like  Latimer  was  immensely 
popular  :  the  crowds  that  thronged  to  hear  him  sometimes 
crowding  on  the  seats  till  they  broke  them  down  with  the 
weight.  But  it  was  no  wonder  he  should  have  to  bewail  the 
depravity  and  heartlessness  on  every  hand.  It  was  the  inevit- 
able result  of  the  great  spiritual  revolution  which  had  destroyed 
the  past,  and  had  not  yet  so  cleared  itself  from  the  wreck  as  to 
be  justly  appreciated.     The  priest  with  his  pardons  for  money, 

'  Sermon  of  the  Plough.     Preached  at  St.  Paul's,  London,  Jan.,  1548. 


A.D.  1548.]  Death  of  Edward  V I.  419 

his  images  and  relics,  had  been  found  a  huge  imposture,  but  a 
better  and  purer  faith  had  not  yet  rooted  itself  in  men's 
hearts.  Religion,  in  the  past,  had  been  divorced  from  morality, 
for  the  outward  ceremony  was  religion,  apart  from  the  life  and 
spirit.  As  at  the  fall  of  ancient  paganism,  an  interval  of  moral 
chaos  intervened  before  Christianity  could  vindicate  its  sur- 
passing claims,  so,  at  the  fall  of  Popery,  there  was  for  the 
time  a  breaking  up  of  the  whole  social  life,  from  which  it  took 
generations  for  the  purer  faith  which  superseded  it  to  restore 
our  country.  Nor  were  other  causes  of  public  corruption 
wanting.  The  discovery  of  the  New  World  with  its  dreams  of 
sudden  and  boundless  wealth  :  the  immense  arrivals  of  the 
precious  metals  in  Europe  from  the  Spanish  conquest;  the, 
extension  of  commerce  by  the  discovery  of  the  sea-route  to 
India ;  and  the  intoxication  of  a  new  universal  activity,  helped 
to  break  down  the  natural  restraints  of  morality,  so  far  as  it 
had  prevailed. 

The  fiercely  contested  subject  of  the  marriage  of  the  clergy 
was  decided  in  the  Protestant  sense  by  an  Act  passed  in 
December,  1548.  But  great  changes  are  only  slowly  effected  in 
the  face  of  ancient  prejudice,  and  it  was  not  till  an  Act  passed  in 
1 57 1,  under  Elizabeth,  that  the  question  was  finally  settled. 

Bonner  had  virtually  ignored  all  that  had  l)cen  done  since 
Henry's  death,  and  his  conduct  set  a  dangerous  example.  Rather 
than  use  the  English  Litany  and  Communion,  he  seldom  appeared 
at  St.  Paul's  at  all,  and  he  retained  the  old  services  in  its  chapels. 
Heading  the  clerical  discontent  of  his  diocese,  he  soon  managed 
to  divide  it  into  two  hostile  camps.  In  some  churches  the 
altars  were  retained ;  in  others,  tables  were  substituted.  Com- 
munion might  be  administered  in  both  kinds,  but  in  some  places 
it  was  celebrated  thrice  a  day,  as  the  mass  had  been.  As  far  as 
possible,  the  Romanists  continued  the  old  services  under  new 
names,  and,  as  Hooper  tells  us,  "  the  mass  priests,  though  com- 
pelled to  discontinue  the  use  of  Latin,  yet  most  carefully  ob- 
served the  same  tone  and  manner  of  chanting  as  they  had  been 


420  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  155a 

accustomed  to  in  the  Papacy."^  Insolent  and  defiant,  Bonner 
afFected  to  despise  a  commission  appointed  for  his  examination, 
and  proving  utterly  intractable  was  deprived  of  his  office,  since 
he  would  not  fulfil  the  conditions  on  which  he  had  accepted  it. 
His  commitment  to  the  Marshalsea  followed,  and  thus  both 
Gardiner  and  he  were  silenced  till  King  Edward's  death. 

The  terror  of  bringing  about  in  England  the  social  uprisings 
that  had  accompanied  religious  changes  in  Europe  had  led  to 
harsh  measures  under  Henry,  and  still  clouded  the  better  judg- 
ment of  the  age.  Toleration  was  as  yet  counted  a  sin.  Anxious 
for  personal  freedom  of  conscience,  men  fancied  themselves 
bound  to  deny  it  to  all  who  differed  from  them  in  opinions.  To 
realize  at  once  what  is  implied  in  a  great  principle,  is  impossible 
even  to  its  most  honest  advocates.  The  spell  of  the  past  still 
held  men  fast.  BuUinger  and  Calvin  thought  certain  opinions 
worthy  of  death  as  sincerely  as  Gardiner  or  Bonner.  Apart 
from  alarm  for  the  supposed  pubUc  danger  of  a  true  religious 
liberty,  the  taunts  against  Protestantism,  that  it  protected  all  forms 
of  heresy,  quickened  the  unwise  resolution  to  try  to  put  them 
down  by  the  strong  hand.  A  commission,  including  Cranmer 
and  six  bishops,  with  some  clergy  and  laymen,  of  whom  Cecil, 
afterwards  Lord  Burghleigh,  was  one,  summoned  before  them 
the  most  prominent  leaders  of  the  strange  sects  that  had  latterly 
sprung  up,  but  they  were  loath  to  proceed  to  extremes,  and 
nearly  all  were  induced  to  recant  and  were  set  free. 

One  unhappy  woman,  Joan  Bocher,  however,  refused  to 
yield,  though  detained  in  prison  for  a  whole  year,  in  hopes  that 
she  would  do  so.  Her  offence  was  that  she  held  some  strange 
notions  respecting  the  incarnation;  notions  which,  at  the 
worst,  were  mere  maggots  of  the  brain.  Cranmer  and  Ridley 
had  tried  their  best  to  win  her  over,  but  she  stood  firm,  and  the 
Council  at  last,  in  1550,  were  blind  enough  to  send  her  to  the 
stake  in  unconscious  violation  of  the  fundamental  principle  of 

'  Original  Letters,  72. 


A.D.  I550.]  Death  of  Edward  VI.  42 1 

their  own  religious  position — the  right  of  private  judgment. 
Cranmer  has  been  most  unjustly  blamed  in  connection  with 
this  incident,  from  a  story  told  by  Foxe,  in  error,  of  his  having 
obtained  the  signature  of  Edward  to  the  warrant,  only  after 
long  and  earnest  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  boy-king.  But 
the  whole  charge  falls  to  the  ground  when  it  is  known  that 
Edward  did  not  sign  the  warrant  at  all,  and  that  it  would  have 
been  contrary  to  constitutional  custom  for  him  to  have  done  so. 
It  was,  in  fact,  signed  by  the  Council,  and  the  minute  of  its 
meeting,  which  still  remains,  shows  that  Cranmer  absented 
himself  from  it  to  have  no  part  whatever  in  the  matter.* 

Court  intrigues  and  cabals  tended  to  increase  the  confusion, 
and  hinder  the  growth  of  a  better  state  of  things.  Somerset 
had  many  enemies.  Some  wished  to  supplant  him  as  Protector ; 
some  hated  him  for  a  tenderness,  which  endangered  their 
selfish  oppression  of  the  peasantry ;  others  for  his  having  put 
his  brother  to  death ;  others,  still,  for  his  having  built  a  grand 
palace  in  the  Strand  on  the  site  of  some  bishops'  houses  and 
churches,  and  that  in  a  time  of  war  and  plague.  The  clergy 
hated  him  not  only  as  the  lay  head  of  the  Reformers,  but  for  his 
having  grasped  so  many  of  the  best  manors  of  the  bishops  for 
himself  or  others.  His  mistakes  in  policy,  his  Scotch  wars,  his 
French  projects,  his  debasing  the  coin  of  the  realm,  and  the 
anarchy  he  had  suffered  to  spread  through  the  country,  all 
helped  to  overthrow  him.  The  Council,  led  by  his  rival,  Warwick, 
hence  felt  strong  enough,  in  October,  1549,  to  throw  him  into 
the  Tower,  but  he  was  set  free  in  February,  1550,  after 
being  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  jCz,ooo  a  year,  and  the  loss  of 
all  his  goods  and  ofiices.  But  his  influence  with  the  boy-king,  his 
nephew,  restored  him,  at  least  in  outward  form,  to  the  court 
and  Council  in  the  April  following. 

The  Reformers  had  been  paralyzed  by  the  fall  of  the  Pro- 
tector, but  once  more  took  courage  when  he  was  set  free.     A 

^  See  Notes  10  Stiype's  Cranmer,  ii.  97.     London:  1848. 


422  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1551. 

number  of  learned  Reformers  had  been  invited  to  England,  from 
the  Continent,  by  Cranmer,  and  with  these  he  took  constant 
counsel,  to  the  modification  of  many  of  his  views.  In  a  tract, 
attributed  to  him,  he  now  rejected  the  authority  of  tradition, 
however  willing  to  give  antiquity  respect.  In  another  tract, 
apparently  his,  he  committed  himself  to  the  Protestant  doctrine 
of  the  sacrament  more  than  ever  before.  In  truth,  he  was 
ceaselessly  busy  in  the  promotion  of  evangelical  religion  through 
the  press. 

The  Romanists  had  hoped  to  have  the  old  services  restored 
on  Somerset's  downfall,  but  an  order  issued  after  it,  to  the 
bishops,  in  the  name  of  the  king  and  Council,  undeceived  them. 
All  Popish  books  of  devotion  were  to  be  destroyed,  that  the 
Common  Prayer  might  come  into  universal  use,  and  any  officials 
who  refused  to  provide  the  bread  and  wine  for  Communion  were 
to  be  punished.  Still  more,  an  Act  of  Parliament  soon  after 
followed,  ordering  the  destruction  of  the  images  already  cast  out 
of  all  the  churches  and  chapels  of  the  country,  but  hitherto  left  in 
dishonourable  obscurity. 

The  Ordination  Service  as  yet  remained  as  in  the  old  days, 
but  was  now,  also,  reformed  by  a  special  statute.  The  five 
inferior  orders  of  the  Romish  ministry  were  abolished  ;  the 
readers,  the  sub-deacons,  the  exorcists,  the  acolytes,  or  atten- 
dants, and  the  doorkeepers,  and  with  them,  a  number  of  super- 
fluous forms ;  the  use  of  gloves  and  sandals,  of  mitre,  ring,  and 
crozier,  the  anointing  with  chrism,  or  holy  oil,  and  the  delivery 
of  the  chalice  and  paten  as  a  symbol  of  power  being  conferred 
to  offer  priestly  sacrifice — that  is,  to  celebrate  masses  for  the 
living  and  the  dead.  The  imposition  of  hands  of  the  bishop 
and  clergy,  and  the  gift  of  a  Bible  to  the  newly  ordained  minister, 
were  alone  retained.  The  three  offices  of  bishop,  presbyter,  and 
deacon  were  further  distinguished  and  defined  as  they  are  now 
understood,  and  thus  the  reformed  Church  stood  complete  in 
itself  in  another  vital  requirement. 

Great  as  were  the  changes  thus  introduced,  an  extreme  party, 


A.D.  issi]  Death  of  Edward  VI.  423 

still  small  in  number,  had  unhappily  risen,  who  desired  not  only 
a  reform  of  the  old  but  the  substitution  of  a  new  service,  from 
which  all  resemblance  whatever  to  the  Romish  forms  should  be 
banished.  It  would  have  been  better,  indeed,  if  this  had  been 
more  fully  done  than  it  was,  for  the  old  forms  were  identified 
with  a  Church  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  sxmk  into 
a  mockery  of  the  Church  of  the  Apostles.  Unfortunately  an 
opposite  course  was  taken,  and  Puritanism  waked  into  life. 
Men  like  Hooper — thoroughly  Protestant  and  evangelical,  but 
attaching  too  much,  importance  to  indifferent  trifles — shrank 
from  the  retention  of  details  involving  no  principle,  as  from 
"shreds  and  fragments  of  Rome,"  and  began  an  opposition 
which  became  disastrous  in  the  end.  There  was  no  idea  of 
opposition  to  episcopal  ordination,  or  to  becoming  robes  for 
bishops  or  clergy,  but  it  shocked  the  minds  of  many,  and  it 
well  might  do  so,  to  see  a  Protestant  bishop  arrayed  in  the 
vestments  of  Popery. 

The  difficulty  of  finding  competent  scholarship  in  England,  had 
led  Cranmer  to  look  abroad  for  aid  at  the  universities.  Fagius,  a 
great  Hebraist,  was  nominated  to  the  chair  of  Hebrew  at 
Cambridge,  and  Bucer  to  that  of  theology,  but,  unfortunately, 
the  one  died  almost  immediately,  and  the  other  only  lived  till 
1551.  A  learned  Florentine,  Peter  Martyr,  also,  was  appointed 
professor  of  theology  at  Oxford.  He  had  been  a  monk,  but 
having  renounced  his  vqws  had  had  to  flee  from  Italy.  The 
introduction  of  foreign  professors  was  no  novelty,  for  Cambridge 
had  gloried  in  Erasmus,  and  foreigners  had  often  been  employed, 
till  recent  times,  by  the  universities,  to  prepare  the  Latin 
speeches  for  Which  the  officials  were  not  equal.  But  the  new 
professor  was  fiercely  attacked  for  his  Protestantism  by  the 
Oxford  authorities,  who  had  continued  bigotedly  Romish  since 
the  expulsion  of  the  Reforming  students,  and  he  was  forced  to 
defend  the  evangelical  doctrine  of  the  sacrament  against  that  of 
the  mass,  in  a  dispute  of  four  days,  in  which,  however,  he  nobly 
justified  his  selection  for  the  post  he  held.    Even  in  Cambridge, 


424  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1551. 

the  old  dogma  was  dying  hard,  for  there,  also,  a  fiery  debate 
was  held,  soon  after,  on  the  same  inexhaustible  subject.  Most 
of  the  clergy  had  clung  to  their  early  opinions  with  all  the 
bigotry  of  ignorance,  though  nominally  accepting  the  new 
doctrine,  and  thus,  except  in  name,  the  teaching  from  pulpits 
and  professors'  chairs,  alike,  was  still  Popish  in  very  many  cases. 

Among  the  saintly  Fathers  of  the  Reformation  none  holds  a 
more  worthy  place  than  John  Hooper.  Born  in  Somersetshire, 
about  1495,  he  in  due  course  went  to  Oxford,  and  after  a  time 
became  a  Cistercian  monk.  Study  of  the  Scriptures,  however, 
and  intercourse  with  the  early  Reformers,  before  long  led  him 
to  renounce  Popery  and  embrace  evangelical  religion.  After 
the  Six  Articles  were  passed,  his  life  had  been  in  such  danger 
that  he  had  to  escape,  in  1537,  from  England,  in  disguise,  and 
remain  an  exile,  first  in  France,  and  then  in  Switzerland,  till 
i547>  when  he  returned,  on  the  accession  of  Edward  VI,  His 
letters  when  abroad,  many  of  which  still  remain,  show  him  to 
have  been  an  earnest  student,  a  tender  husband  and  father,  an 
humble  and  zealous  Christian,  a  great  admirer  of  the  Conti- 
nental divines,  and  an  uncompromising  enemy  of  everything 
connected  with  the  Romish  system.  The  simplicity,  integrity, 
and  warmth  of  heart  which  he  breathes,  must  have  endeared  him 
to  all  his  friends,  as  much  as  his  fearless  loyalty  to  his  opinions 
commanded  their  respect. 

On  his  return  to  England,  he  at  once  took  a  foremost  place 
among  the  Reformers.  He  found,  as  he  tells  us,  Cranmer, 
Ridley,  Goodrich  of  Ely,  Ferrar  of  St.  David's,  Holbeach  of 
Lincoln,  and  Barlow  of  Bath,  holding  sentiments  on  the  crucial 
question  of  the  Eucharist,  "  pure,  and  religious,  and  similar  to 
those  of  Bullinger  and  the  Swiss  Churches."  ^  But  they  were 
not  thorough  enough  for  him  in  carrying  out  their  convictions. 
"  It  is  only  the  fear  for  their  property,"  says  he,  harshly  enough, 
"  that  prevents  them  reforming  their  Churches  according  to  the 

*  Original  Letters,  72. 


AJ).  I55I.]  Death  of  Edward  V I.  425 

Word  of  God."  For  Cranmer  he  "  desired  nothing  more  than 
a  firm  and  manly  spirit," — he  might  have  added,  "  like  his 
own."  His  energy  was  sleepless.  His  public  lectures  on  differ- 
ent Books  of  Scripture,  and  his  preaching  before  the  court  and 
in  the  churches,  were  untiring,  and  he  soon  became  only  less 
popular  than  Latimer.  At  last,  in  July  1550,  he  was  nominated 
to  the  bishopric  of  Gloucester,  but,  with  his  strong  views,  the 
vestments  still  retained  from  Rome,  and  the  oath  required  from 
prelates,  compelled  his  refusal  of  it.  The  oath  was  in  fact  fairly 
open  to  challenge,  for  it  required  a  promise  of  obedience  "  to 
all  statutes  made  or  to  be  made  in  support  of  the  king's  ecclesi- 
astical authority.  So  help  me  God,  and  all  saints,  &c."  Cited 
before  Cranmer  for  declining  the  episcopate,  he  carried  the  day 
on  this  point,  and  the  objectionable  phrase  was  omitted.  His 
scrupulosity  must  have  been  troublesome  enough,  for  he  tells  us 
"  he  brought  forward  many  objections  to  it  in  his  public  lecture 
before  the  king  and  the  nobility,"  and  the  matter  was  only  settled 
after  "  it  had  been  long  and  sharply  agitated  between  the  bishops 
and  himself."  But  the  vestments  were  even  more  objectionable 
to  him  than  the  oath.  It  was  not  till  Elizabeth's  day  that  the 
present  black  satin  robe  of  a  bishop  superseded  that  of  scarlet 
silk,  which  had  been  used  by  Rome,  and  appeared  to  the  more 
ardent  Reformers  a  symbol  of  all  her  cruelties  and  corruptions. 
Hooper,  therefore,  hating  Rome  as  one  well  might  who  expected 
death  at  the  hands  of  her  bishops  as  soon  as  they  regained  the 
power,  stood  out  strongly  against  wearing  it.  His  friends,  Bucer 
and  Peter  Martyr,  at  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  while  wishing  it 
had  been  different,  wisely  counselled  him  to  regard  it  as  an 
immaterial  point,  for  which  the  peace  of  the  Church  should  not 
be  disturbed,  and  reminded  him  most  justly,  that  if  every  one's 
scruples  were  met  no  comely  order  would  be  possible.  It  was 
at  once  hopeless  and  unwise,  moreover,  to  attempt  to  model 
things  in  England  too  closely  on  the  Swiss  pattern,  and  only 
stirred  up  discussion  and  opposition  in  theChurch  and  nation. 
But  Hooper  had  the  true  Puritan  narrowness  as  well  as  its  nobler 


426  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1551. 

qualities,  and  would  listen  to  nothing,  nor  did  he  yield  till  he  had 
been  committed  to  the  Fleet  prison  for  six  weeks,  after  disturb- 
ing the  Church  by  a  nine  months'  controversy,  impolitic  as  it 
was  hurtful.  Then,  at  last,  he  consented  to  wear  the  vestments 
on  specified  occasions,  and  was  ordained.  But  he  had  set  on 
foot  the  Puritan  movement  in  England,  which  was,  hereafter,  to 
rend  the  Church  for  a  time  in  pieces.  As  a  bishop,  however, 
he  was  a  model.  Able  and  diligent  in  preaching,  zealous  in 
promoting  the  welfare  of  his  diocese,  fearless  in  the  exposure  of 
abuses,  strict  in  discipline,  careful  of  the  best  interests  of  the 
Church,  grandly  loyal  to  Evangelical  Protestantism,  and  pure 
and  unselfish  in  an  age  of  general  corruption,  he  has  left  a  name 
of  which  the  episcopate  may  well  be  proud. 

Restlessly  active,  his  first  suggestion  recommended  itself  to 
both  Cranmer  and  Ridley.  Altars,  he  said,  should  be  exchanged 
for  tables,  everywhere,  "  that  the  simple  might  be  turned  from 
the  old  superstition  of  the  mass,  to  the  right  use  of  the  Lord's 
Supper."  An  order  to  this  effect  had  already  been  made,  and 
Ridley  had  zealously  removed  the  altars  in  the  London  diocese, 
but  the  thousands  of  bigoted  Romanists  still  in  the  pulpits 
through  the  country  had,  in  many  cases,  delayed  compliance. 
A  mandate  was  therefore  issued  in  November,  1550,  requiring 
conformity  to  the  former  decree  of  the  Council.  Two  bishops, 
Day  of  Chichester,  and  Heath  of  Worcester,  however,  still  held 
out,  and  refusing  obedience,  were  first  committed  to  prison,  and 
then  deprived  of  their  mitres.*  Gardiner  also  had,  at  last,  been 
deprived  of  his  bishopric  some  months  before.^  He  was  the 
head  of  the  Romanists,  and  by  his  craft  and  cunning  had  em- 
barrassed the  Government  at  every  turn.  On  the  plea  that 
nothing  should  be  altered  in  the  country  during  the  king's 
minority,  a  doctrine  which  would  have  suspended  legislation 
for  many  years,  he  opposed  everything  done  by  the  Council  or 
the  Parliaments  held  under  them.     "The  enlightening  grace 

1  October  lo,  1551,  *  March,  1551. 


A.D.  I53I.]  Death  of  Edward  VI.  427 

bestowed  on  the  Lord's  anointed  was  not  given,"  he  hinted,  "till 
the.coronation,  and  the  Council  not  having  it  coul^  do  nothing." 
The  true  motive  for  his  bearing  lay  in  the  delicate  health  of  the 
young  king,  which  promised  the  accession  of  Mary  at  no  distant 
date,  and  with  it  the  restoration  of  Popery. 

The  successor  to  the  see  of  Winchester  was  Dr.  Ponet,  a  man 
of  eminent  worth  and  learning,  but  the  conditions  on  which  he 
had  to  accept  it  reveal  the  difficulties  with  which  the  Reformers 
had  to  contend.  He  had  to  content  himself  with  a  pension  of 
2,000  marks  from  the  episcopal  estates,  and  to  alienate  the  rest 
in  favour  of  greedy  courtiers. '  The  Church  had  formerly  plun- 
dered the  nation  :  it  was  now  being  plundered,  in  spite  of  the 
Reformers,  by  those  whom  it  had  taught  the  lesson  of  unbridled 
greed.  The  work  before  Cranmer  and  his  colleagues,  in  a  time 
so  corrupt,  was  also  made  unspeakably  harder  by  the  want  of 
agreement  in  the  Church  itself,  and  it  was  aggravated  still 
more  by  such  disputes  as  Hooper  had  excited.  "There  has 
hitherto  been  no  agreement  among  the  bishops,"  says  a  Cam- 
bridge correspondent  of  Calvin,  in  1550,  "relative  either  to 
doctrine  or  discipline.  Very  few  parishes  are  provided  with  fit 
ministers,  and  many  of  them  are  set  up  to  sale  to  the  nobility. 
There  are  some  even  of  the  ecclesiastical  orders,  and  of  that  class 
too  which  desires  to  be  reckoned  Evangelical,  who  hold  three  or 
four  parishes  or  more,  and  yet  do  not  discharge  the  duties  of 
any  one,  but  place  there  such  substitutes  as  can  be  hired  at  the 
cheapest  rate,  and  frequently  men  who  are  unable  to  read  the 
services  in  English,  and  who,  in  their  hearts,  are  very  Papists. 
The  nobility,  in  many  instances,  place  over  the  parishes  those 
who  formerly  belonged  to  religious  houses,  to  save  themselves 
from  paying  them  the  pensions  due  them,  and  these  men  are 
generally  destitute  of  learning,  and  utterly  unqualified  for  the 
ministry.  Hence  it  is,  that  you  may  find  many  a  parish  in 
which  for  many  years  a  sermon  has  never  been  heard."'    "I 

^  Buruet,  ii.  165.  '  Calvin,  £p.  Op.  torn.  xix.  58,  59.     Edit.  Amst. 


428  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1551. 

marvel  the  ground  gapes  not  and  devours  us,"  says  Latimer  in 
in  one  of  his  sermons.  "  If  the  great  men  in  Turkey  in  their 
religion  of  Mahomet  should  sell  benefices,  as  our  patrons  sell 
benefices  here,  it  should  be  taken  as  a  thing  intolerable.  The 
Turk  would  not  suffer  it  in  his  commonwealth.  Let  patrons  take 
heed  ;  they  shall  answer  for  all  the  souls  that  perish  through  their 
default."  Bernard  Gilpin  went  even  so  far  as  to  say,  that  "  if 
such  a  monster  as  Darvellgadern,  the  Welsh  idol,  could  set  his 
hand  to  a  bill  to  let  the  patron  take  the  greater  part  of  the  profits, 
he  might  have  a  benefice."  Against  these  dreadful  abuses  the 
Reformers  were  well-nigh  powerless  and  could  only  protest,  and 
urge  others  also  to  do  so,  as  Calvin  tells  us  Cranmer  begged 
him  to  do  by  writing  frequently  to  the  king  respecting  them.^ 
The  worst  was  that  they  disgusted  the  people  with  the  name  of 
Church  reform,  while  they  suited  the  Romanists  as  much  as 
they  were  abhorred  by  the  Evangelical  party. 

The  Prayer  Book  as  first  issued  had  seemed  in  some  of  its 
phrases  to  countenance  the  belief  in  the  corporal  presence  of 
Christ  in  the  Communion,  and  on  this  ground  and  some  others 
had  been  unsatisfactory  to  many  of  the  Reformers,  both  in 
England  and  on  the  Continent.  It  was  therefore  revised  in 
1 55 1,  and  brought  very  nearly  to  its  present  form;  indeed,  it 
was  made  more  thoroughly  unsacramentarian  than  it  has  ever 
been  since.'*    A  younger  race  of  clergy  was  rising,  less  affected 

*  Calvin,  Ep.  Op.  torn.  xix.  240.     Edit.  AmsL 

"  Prayer  Book  of  Prayer    Book    of  Prayer  Book  of  Eliza- 

1549  :—  1552  :—  beth  :— 

The/nVj^  shall  first           The    minister   shall  Same  as  in  that  of 

receive  the  communion  first  receive,  &c.  ^SS^. 
in  both  kinds. 

And  when   he    de-          And   when   he    de-  And  when    he    de- 

livereth  the  sacrament  livereth  the  breads  be  livereth   the  bread   to 

of  the  body  of  Christ,  shall  say, —  o«y  <?«<',  he  shall  say, — ■ 
he  shall  say, — 


A.D.  155«J 


Death  of  Edward  VI. 


429 


by  early  prejudices  than  the  veteran  Reformers,  and  anxious  to 
make  a  thorough  Reformation  from  the  whole  Romish  system 
in  all  its  details,  though  loyal  to  episcopacy.  They  were  men 
of  great  energy,  most  of  them  honest  and  learned,  and  they  had 
all  the  zeal  of  youth,  but,  doubtless  some  of  its  impetuosity. 
Cranmer  and  even  Latimer  were  beginning  to  be  passed  in 
the  advance  of  public  opinion,  as  they  in  their  day  had  passed 
those  before  them,  and  as  all  leaders  of  one  generation  must  be 
by  those  of  the  next. 

An  explanatory  rubric,  or  note  in  red  type,  appended  to  the 
Communion  Service  in  the  revised  Prayer  Book  gave  special 
offence  to  the  Romish   party,  by  informing  the    people  that 


Prayer  Book  of 

1549:— 
The  body  of  our  Lord 
yesus   Christ  preserve 
thy  body  and  soul  to 
everlasting  life. 


And  the  minister  de- 
livering the  sacrament 
of  the  blood,  &c. 

The  blood  of  our 
Lord  yesus  Christ, 
which  was  s/ied  for 
thee,  preserve  thy  body 
and  soul  to  everlasting 
life. 


Prayer  Book  of 
1552:— 

Take  and  eat  this 
in  remembrance  that 
Christ  died  for  thee, 
and  feed  on  Him  in 
thy  heart,  by  faith, 
with  thanksgiving. 


And  the  minister 
that  deliverethM^  cup, 
&c 

Drink  this,  in  re- 
membrance that 
Chrisfs  blood  was  shed 
for  thee,  and  be  thank- 
ful. 


Prayer  Book  of  Eliza- 
betli : — 

The  body  of  our  Lord 
yesusChrist,which  was 
given  for  thee,  preserve 
thy  body  and  soul  unto 
everlasting  life.  Take 
and  eat  this  in  remem- 
brance that  Christ  died 
for  thee,  and  feed  on 
Him  in  thy  heart  by 
faith  with  thanks- 
giving. 


The  blood  of  our  Lord 
yesus  Christ,  which 
was  shed  for  thee,  pre- 
serve thy  body  and  soul 
unto  everlasting  life. 
Drink  this,  in  remem- 
brance that  Christ's 
blood  was  shed  for 
thee,  and  be  thankful. 


430  The  English  Reformation.  Ca.d.  1551. 

kneeling  at  the  time  of  receiving  the  sacrament  was  merely 
"  an  humble  and  grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  benefits  of 
Christ  therein  given  to  all  worthy  receivers,  and  meant  nothing 
like  an  adoration  of  the  elements,  as  unto  any  corporal  presence 
of  Christ's  natural  Flesh  and  Blood."  It  was  also  a  sore  point 
with  them  that  Cranmer  fraternized  with  such  men  as  Peter 
Martyr,  Martin  Bucer,  and  Alexander  Aless,  and  consulted 
them  on  Church  questions,  standing,  as  they  did,  outside  the 
Episcopal  communion.  Sacerdotalism  could  not  tolerate  the 
recognition  of  any  branch  of  the  Church  not  ruled  by  bishops. 
As  if  any  one  needs  be  the  less  sincere  an  Episcopalian  for  not 
unchurching  all  but  his  own  section  of  Christ's  people  I 

The  Ten  Articles  of  Henry's  time  had  been  superseded  by  the 
Six  Articles  of  the  reaction,  and  these,  in  their  turn,  had  been 
abolished.  Unwilling  that  the  Church  should  be  without  a 
recognized  Confession  of  its  Faith,  Cranmer  now  conferred  on  it 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  many  services  it  owes  him,  by  bringing 
forward  a  series  of  Articles,  forty-two  in  number,  which,  with 
some  retrenchments  and  modifications,  are  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  of  the  present  day.  He  had  early  adopted  the  noble 
conception  of  Melancthon  that  a  common  basis  of  faith  should 
be  drawn  up  for  all  the  Protestant  Churches  of  Europe,  to  enable 
them  to  present  a  united  front  to  Rome,  and  he  had  been  in 
earnest  and  wide  correspondence  with  the  Reformers  of  the 
Continent  for  many  years  to  bring  this  about.  Attempts  had 
also  been  made,  once  and  again,  to  effect  it  by  bringing  over 
learned  deputations  from  Germany  for  friendly  discussion  with 
the  dignitaries  of  the  English  Church,  but  the  bigotry  of  Henry 
VIII.,  and  his  political  schemes,  with  the  rooted  sacerdotalism  of 
many  English  bishops,  had  as  often  defeated  his  aim. 

It  seemed,  indeed,  at  one  time  as  if  all  Protestants  might 
unite,  and  receive  not  only  the  doctrine,  but  the  discipline  of  the 
English  Church  by  mutual  concessions;  nor  was  it  till  1552  that 
Cranmer  gave  up  the  magnificent  idea.  But  it  is  the  character- 
istic of  healthy  freedom  that  it  begets  differences  of  thought. 


AD.  IS5I.1  Death  of  Edward  VI.  431 

and  those  of  Protestantism  prevented  any  general  alliance  of 
the  European  and  English  Churches.  Identity  of  opinion  is 
impossible  where  there  is  intellectual  earnestness.  Even  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  to  think,  is  to  differ  from  one's  neighbour, 
and  only  an  outward  and  unreal  uniformity  can  be  maintained, 
where  speculative  points  are  involved. 

Finding  his  great  project  thus  hopeless,  Cranmer  set  himself 
to  prepare  new  Articles,  as  has  been  said,  for  the  Church.  He 
received  the  order  of  the  king  in  Council  to  commence  the 
work,  in  1551,  and  in  September  of  that  year  the  draft  was 
submitted  for  revision  to  Sir  John  Cheke,  the  king's  tutor,  and 
to  Secretary  Cecil,  whom  Cranmer  often  consulted  on  ecclesi- 
astical matters.  It  was  afterwards  revised,  further,  by  the  six 
royal  chaplains,  and  by  the  Presbyterian  John  Knox,  who  was 
then  resident  in  London.  A  final  revision  by  Cranmer  himself 
followed.  The  Articles  were  now  ready,  apparently  without 
having  been  submitted  to  Convocation,  and  an  order  from  the 
king  was  drawn  up,  requiring  the  bishops  to  cause  all  their 
clergy  to  sign  them.  But  the  royal  signature  was  not  put  to  it 
till  May,  1553,  a  few  days  before  Edward's  death.  So  cautious 
was  the  advance  in  the  face  of  so  much  bitter  opposition.  The 
difficulty  of  helping  forward  evangelical  religion  in  a  Church 
still  so  Popish  in  its  clergy,  may  indeed  be  judged  from  the 
fact  that  the  new  Ordination  Service  had  been  carried  by  the 
votes  of  only  six  bishops  against  five,  sixteen,  who  were  mostly 
hostile,  having  kept  out  of  the  way.  Thus,  also,  the  bill  for 
destroying  the  images  in  the  churches  had  only  eight  bishops 
for  it,  while  six  opposed  it,  and  thirteen  were  absent.'  The 
majority  of  the  episcopal  bench  were,  in  fact,  still  Romanists, 
though,  for  policy,  they  affected  to  accept  the  Reformation. 
Trimming  to  every  ecclesiastical  change  to  retain  their  sees, 
they  were  secretly  the  deadly  enemies  of  the  new  order  they 
affected  to  maintain. 

*  Journals  of  the  Honse  of  Lordi. 


432  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1552. 

The  intrigues  and  plots  which  had  led  to  the  imprisonment 
of  Somerset  in  1550,  soon  began  again  after  his  restoration. 
England  was  made  to  feel  bitterly  the  evils  of  a  royal  minority, 
for  a  strong  will  on  the  throne  would  at  the  worst  have  sub- 
jected it  to  only  one  tyrant,  whereas  it  was  now  the  prey  of 
rival  factions.  Early  in  1550  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  the  worthy 
son  of  the  head  extortioner  of  Henry  VII.,  gained  the  chief 
power  in  the  Council,  and  from  thai  time,  though  Somerset 
was  in  name  restored  to  favour,  his  fall  was  only  a  matter  of 
weeks  or  months.  At  last,  on  the  nth  October,  1551,  Warwick 
became  Duke  of  Northumberland,  and  this  crowning  triumph 
was  followed  on  the  i6th  by  the  arrest  of  Somerset  once  more, 
on  the  charge  of  having  conspired  against  members  of  the 
Council — for  it  could  not  be  said  that  he  conspired  against  his 
nephew,  the  king.  His  real  crime  was  that  he  stood  in  the 
way  of  Northumberland's  ambition,  as  the  one  obstacle  between 
him  and  supreme  control  over  Edward.  A  mockery  of  trial 
then  only  too  common,  soon  followed,  and  the  headsman's  axe 
completed  the  tragedy  in  January,  1552,  not  however  without 
public  disturbances,  and  amidst  great  lamenting  among  the 
Reformers.  It  was  felt  that  he  had  meant  well,  and  his  errors 
were  forgotten  in  his  fate.  Every  position  of  influence  was 
henceforth  filled  by  creatures  of  Northumberland,  and  the 
country  soon  found  that  in  Somerset's  fall  it  had  only  ex- 
changed one  cloud  of  harpies  for  a  still  worse.  What  the  hail 
had  left,  the  new  locusts  devoured.  A  fresh  commission  was 
issued  to  hunt  out  any  bells,  plate,  images,  robes,  banners,  or 
whatever  was  of  value  in  the  churches,  or  that  had  been  taken 
from  them,  that  they  might  be  sent  to  London  to  be  turned 
into  money.  Whatever  remained  of  the  chantry  lands  was 
seized  and  divided  among  the  public  robbers  at  nominal  prices. 
Livings  were  granted  away  to  Northumberland's  friends,  in 
every  direction,  and  in  March,  1553,  a  packed  Parliament 
threw  out  a  bill  by  which  Cranmer  and  his  party  sought  to 
check  these  shameful  abuses.      Lay  impropriations  were  the 


A.aisS2-]  Death  of  Edward  V/.  433 

special  object  of  their  attack — a  system  by  which  court 
favourites  or  purchasers  in  the  open  market  were  made  nomi- 
nally deans  or  rectors,  free  to  appoint  whom  they  liked  as  their 
working  deputy.  But  the  scandal  was  an  heirloom  from  the 
old  Popish  times,  when  boys  had  been  made  bishops,  and  even 
cardinals,  when  livings  and  prebends  were  heaped  on  men  who 
were  not  even  in  deacon's^  orders ;  and  it  was  too  profitable  to 
be  corrected.  The  Reformers  had  therefore  to  submit  in  this 
as  in  much  else.  So  audacious,  indeed,  did  the  plundering 
of  endowments  become  under  Northumberland,  that,  having 
confiscated  to  himself  the  vast  estate  of  the  Bishopric  of 
Durham,  in  1551,  he  threw  Tunstal  into  the  Tower  on  vague 
charges,  soon  after  Somerset's  execution,  that  he  might  the  bet- 
ter enter  on  the  spoil.  But  he  differed  only  in  degree  from  his 
fellow-robbers,  for  appointments  either  to  benefices  or  bishoprics 
had  come  to  depend  on  the  willingness  of  nominees  to  sign 
away  a  large  part  of  the  income.  The  monks,  indeed,  had  led 
the  way,  in  this  as  in  other  iniquities,  by  their  wholesale 
engrossment  of  parish  endowments,  to  the  wide  spiritual  ruin 
of  the  Church ;  and  the  political  adventurers  of  Edward's  day 
only  used  their  chance  of  continuing  the  same  odious  plunder. 
The  morality  of  Popery — a  morality  seen  yet  too  widely  in 
Italy  and  Spain  in  an  utter  want  of  healthy  public  opinion — was 
only  slowly  to  be  purified  by  three  centuries  of  Protestantism, 
Meanwhile  this  unholy  plunder  of  the  Church  has  left  one- 
third  of  the  benefices  of  England  under  the  value  of  /"zoo  a 
year  at  this  moment :  has  caused  the  unspeakable  scandal  that 
many  of  the  clergy  can  taste  butcher's  meat  as  rarely  as  our 
agricultural  labourers,  and  that  many,  feeling  themselves  un- 
able to  give  their  children  an  education,  are  glad  to  apprentice 
them  to  any  tradesman  who  will  take  them."  Attempts  had 
been  repeatedly  made  by  Cranmer,  and  Acts  had  even  been 

'  See  Drummond's  Erasmus,  i.  70. 

*  Bishop  of    Manchester,    in    Tinus,    1878.    The  endowment  of  the 
Parish  Church  of  Clerkenwell  is  only  £^  i8s.  gd.  a  year ! 


434  "^^^^  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1532. 

passed,  to  reform  the  body  of  Church  law  which  had  grown 
into  a  jungle  of  pontifical  decrees  and  decretals,  Sixtine, 
Clementine,  and  other  prolixities  and  confusions,  and  still 
ruled  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  He  at  last  succeeded  in 
1552  in  obtaining  a  royal  commission  to  systematize  it,  and 
thus  put  an  end  to  the  unspeakable  abuses  against  which  Colet' 
and  every  sincere  reformer  had  so  loudly  inveighed.  But 
though  the  commission  did  its  work,  it  was  never  confirmed. 
Discipline  over  laymen  was  felt  impossible  in  a  Church  in 
which  they  had  no  voice,  and  inexpedient  where  the  whole 
nation  were  invited  to  membership.  Edward  saw  the  difficulties 
better  than  Cranmer.  He  admitted  the  desirableness  of  dis- 
cipline, but  felt  the  need  of  security  that  those  entrusted  with  it 
should  be  men  of  "  tried  honesty,  wisdom,  and  judgment." 
"  But  because,"  added  he,  "those  bishops  who  should  execute 
it,  some  for  Papistry,  some  for  ignorance,  some  for  age,  some 
for  their  ill  names,  some  for  all  these  causes,  were  men  unable 
to  execute  discipline,  it  was,  therefore,  a  thing  unmeet  for  such 
men." 

One  part  indeed  of  this  vast  undertaking  was  of  peculiar 
difficulty,  and  perhaps  caused  the  wreck  of  the  whole  scheme. 
The  laws  of  Church  discipline  framed  under  Rome  had  been 
utterly  neglected  except  towards  heretics,  but  they  stood  on 
the  pages  of  the  Canonists,  and  would  become  formidable 
when  transferred  even  in  a  modified  form  to  the  Reformed 
Church.  Cranmer's  gentleness  made  him  more  tolerant  in 
some  directions  than  many  of  his  contemporaries,  but  if  we 
remember  that  even  Jeremy  Taylor,*  nearly  a  hundred  years 
later,'  thought  death  the  just  punishment  of  opinions  which 
"  taught  blasphemy  or  impiety,"  and  that  even  BuUinger  and 
Melancthon   went  perhaps  further,  it  is  no  wonder  Cranmer 

'  Seepages  109,  121.  "^  Born  1613,  died  1667. 

'  In  his  Liberty  of  Prophesying,  published  in  1647,  sec.  xiii.  I,  sec 
XV.  2. 


A.D.1S53]  Death  of  Edward  VI.  435 

held  that  "heretics"  deserved  banishment  or  imprisonment,  or 
to  be  punished  in  any  other  way  that  seemed  most  expedient 
for  their  conversion,  though  the  germ  of  toleration  had  already 
led  him  to  repudiate  the  penalty  of  death  for  opinions. 

Even  Church  censures  in  such  an  age,  however,  when  licence 
was  holding  its  carnival,  must  have  been  distasteful  in  the 
extreme,  and  hence,  for  better  or  worse,  the  Church  of  England 
has  been  left  practically  without  a  system  of  discipline.  The 
higher  tone  of  morality  gradually  introduced  by  Protestantism 
has,  however,  vindicated  itself  triumphantly  in  the  fact  that, 
without  Church  penalties  or  altar  denunciations,  no  country  can 
boast  a  healthier  public  opinion,  or  a  purer  national  life,  than 
England.  Morality  began  to  grow  among  us  from  the  day  that 
the  priest  was  put  down. 

The  young  king  had  been  attacked  by  small-pox  in  1552,  and 
the  disease  had  sorely  tried  a  constitution  already  tainted. 
Winter  saw  him  still  further  enfeebled  by  signs  of  decline,  and 
it  was  clear  before  June  that  he  was  dying.  His  greatest  fear, 
as  a  fervent  Protestant,  was  that  "  Papistry  "  should  rise  again 
through  his  sister  Mary.  This  alarm  was  fostered  by 
Northumberland  for  his  own  ends.  Having  married  his  son  to 
Lady  Jane  Grey,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Suffolk  and  grand- 
daughter of  Mary  Brandon,  sister  of  Henry  VIIT.,  the  duke 
worked  on  Edward's  fears  till  he  induced  him  to  draw  up  a  will 
leaving  the  kingdom,  as  if  it  had  been  his  private  property,  to 
this  lady,  whose  only  claim,  in  reality,  was  her  being  a  Protestant. 
The  Council  all  signed  this  document :  the  judges  and  legal 
advisers  of  the  crown  were  said  to  support  it,  and  even  Cranmer, 
after  a  long  resistance,  yielded  at  last,  most  unwillingly,  to  the 
importunities  of  the  dying  boy,  and  added  his  name  to  it.  On 
the  6th  July,  1553,  Edward  was  dead  and  the  will  remained  an 
idle  invention  of  Northumberland's  ambition,  destined  to  bring 
ruin  on  not  a  few. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  EVIL  DAYS  OF  QUEEN  MARY. 

THE  state  of  religious  affairs  in  England  at  the  death  of 
Edward,  is  vividly  painted  in  some  of  the  letters  of  the 
Reformers  which  still  remain.  "  The  most  goodly  Josiah,  our 
earthly  hope,"  says  one,^  "died  on  the  6th  of  July  (1553);  of 
consumption,  as  the  physicians  assert ;  by  poison,  according  to 
common  report."  Undoubtedly  he  died  of  natural  decay,  but 
the  fears  of  men  suspected  murder.  "  This  death,  and  the 
other  evils  which  now  oppress  England,"  continues  the  writer, 
"  were  apparently  portended  by  a  dreadful  storm,  to  which  I  do 
not  remember  any  equal.  It  was  accompanied  by  the  most 
extreme  darkness,  most  violent  wind,  innumerable  flashes  of 
lightning,  and  dreadful  rain."  So,  he  read  the  skies  by  his  own 
foreboding.  Northumberland's  attempt  to  get  his  daughter-in- 
law.  Lady  Jane  Grey,  made  queen,  and  its  failure,  are  then 
related,  and  the  letter  goes  on  : — 

"  Thus  Jane  was  queen  for  only  nine  days,  and  those  most 
turbulent  ones.  After  some  days  Mary  made  her  entry  with 
great  triumph  into  the  City,  to  take  possession  of  the  Tower,  on 
entering  which  she  immediately  set  at  liberty  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester  (Gardiner),  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  imprisoned  since 


*  Julius  Terentianus.     Orig.  Letters,   365. 
had  already  fled  from  England  to  Strasburg. 


Date,  Nov.  20,  1553.    He 


A-D.  1553.]  TJie  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  437 

1547;  Lord  Courtenay,  son  of  the  Marquis  of  Exeter,  beheaded 
in  1539;  and  the  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  the  late 
Protector.  The  Bishop  of  Winchester  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
were  forthwith  made  councillors."  Thus  the  lay  and  priestly 
heads  of  Romanism  were  once  more  at  the  helm  of  the  State. 
Mary  had  entered  London  on  the  3rd  of  August,  and  on 
the  22nd  Northumberland  was  beheaded  at  Tower  Hill, 
professing  at  the  block  that,  though  outwardly  so  ardent  a 
Reformer,  he  had  always  been  a  steadfast  believer  in  the  old 
religion — a  type,  doubtless,  in  this  of  many  others  who  took  the 
side  that  promised  to  bring  them  Church  plunder. 

Mary  had  been  persuaded  to  let  King  Edward  be  buried  by 
Cranmer  with  the  English  service,  but  she  had  a  requiem  mass 
sung  for  him  in  Latin,  before  her,  in  the  Tower,  the  same  day, 
Gardiner  performing  it  in  the  old  Popish  form,  wearing  his 
mitre.^  Ridley,  Bishop  of  London,  had  preached  on  the  i6th 
of  July,  at  Paul's  Cross,  in  favour  of  Jane,  and  Sandys,  the 
Vice-Chancellor,  had  done  so  on  the  same  day  at  Cambridge, 
but  Mary  had  no  sooner  returned  to  the  Tower  than  both 
were  thrown  into  prison,  where  Ridley  lay  till  he  was  martyred. 
Sandys,  however,  was  soon  released,  and  lived  abroad,  to 
become  afterwards  Archbishop  of  York,  under  Elizabeth. 

Nine  days  after  her  triumphant  entry  to  Ix)ndon  Mary  sent 
for  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  to  the  Tower,  and  assured 
them  that  "  albeit  her  own  conscience  was  stayed  in  matters  of 
religion,  yet  she  meant  not  to  compel  or  strain  men's  con- 
sciences otherwise  than  God  should,  as  she  trusted,  put  in  their 
hearts  a  persuasion  of  the  truth  that  she  was  in,  through  the 
opening  of  His  word  unto  them  by  godly,  and  virtuous,  and 
learned  preachers."  How  she  kept  her  word  is  shown  by  the 
terrible  epithet  that  for  ever  swathes  her  name  I 

Bonner  was  reinstated  as  Bishop  of  London  on  August 
5th,   and   inaugurated   his  restoration   as   might    have    been 

^  Strype's  Mem.  iiL  i,  31. 


438  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1553. 

expected.  Bourn,  his  chaplain,  '  a  most  thorough  Papist," 
was  appointed  preacher  at  Paul's  Cross  on  Sunday,  August 
13th,  and  a  great  crowd  gathered  to  hear  what  he  might  say. 
"  As  soon  as  they  heard  his  blasphemies  and  falsehoods, 
praising  Bonner,  denouncing  the  late  king,  and  favouring 
Popery,  they  began  to  raise  a  tumult ;  some  of  them  demanding 
capital  punishment  for  the  man,  and  others  calling  out  for 
silence.  The  Lord  Mayor  and  some  of  the  Aldermen  en- 
deavoured to  quiet  them  but  without  effect."  Bradford,  the 
future  martyr,  then  a  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  who  stood  in  the 
pulpit  behind  him,  on  this  came  forward,  and  addressed  the 
people  so  judiciously,  that,  after  cheering  him,  "  they  promised 
silence,  because  he  was  a  faithful  preacher  of  the  Word,  and 
presently  began  quietly  to  disperse,  when  he  had  ended.  Some 
one  in  the  meantime  hurled  a  dagger  at  the  Romish  preacher, 
and  the  mob  became  so  excited,  that  it  would  have  been 
all  over  with  that  wicked  knave"  had  not  Bradford,  and  Rogers, 
another  prebendary  and  also  a  future  martyr,  spread  their 
cloaks  over  him,  and  led  him  safely  through  the  mob. 

The  spirit  of  the  new  reign  could  not  be  concealed.  In  spite 
of  his  brave  rescue  of  the  preacher,  Bradford  was  thrown  next 
day  into  the  Tower,  "upon  no  other  charge  than  that,  as  he 
could  so  easily  disperse  the  mob,  he  must  have  had  some  hand 
in  exciting  it."  Other  preachers  were  also  arrested,  and 
occasion  was  taken  to  prohibit  all  preaching,  except  by  license, 
which  was  given  only  to  known  Romanists.  Many  of  the 
Protestants,  however,  would  not  be  thus  silenced,  and  were  in 
consequence  imprisoned  ;  a  step  which  marked  the  beginning 
of  the  persecution.  The  Romish  preachers  had  to  be  protected 
by  the  queen's  guard,  in  London,  and  all  persons  were  pro- 
hibited from  coming  near  Paul's  Cross,  for  fear  of  raising  a 
fresh  disturbance. 

As  early  as  the  27th  of  August,  Bonner  restored  the  old 
service  in  St.  Paul's,  with  its  processions  of  priests  and  its  Latin 
mass,  and  London  once   more   heard   the   choristers  singing 


AJ).  1553]  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary,  439 

anthems  from  its  steeple  on  St.  Catherine's  day.  It  was  the 
same  in  the  country.  A  letter  from  Oxford  tells  us,  "The 
Papists,  who  had  been  always  longing  for  this  most  wished-for 
day,  dug  out,  as  it  were  from  their  graves,  their  vestments, 
chalices,  and  portasses,^  and  began  mass  with  all  speed.  In 
these  things  our  Oxford  folk  led  the  van.  Even  at  the  pro- 
clamation of  Mary  here,  before  she  was  proclaimed  at  London, 
and  when  the  event  was  still  doubtful,  they  gave  such  demon- 
strations of  joy  as  to  spare  nothing.  They  first  of  all  made  so 
much  noise  all  the  day  long  with  clapping  their  hands,  that  it 
seems  still  to  linger  in  my  ears ;  they  then,  even  the  poorest  of 
them,  made  voluntary  subscriptions,  and  mutually  exhorted  each 
other  to  maintain  the  cause  of  Mary  ;  lastly,  at  night,  they  had 
a  public  festival,  and  threatened  flames,  hanging,  the  gallows, 
and  drowning,  to  all  the  Gospellers."^ 

Bishop  Hooper  was  thrown  into  the  Fleet  prison  on  the 
I  St  September,  and  two  days  after  wrote  to  Bullinger  that  "  ihe 
altars  are  again  set  up  throughout  the  kingdom ;  private  masses 
are  frequently  celebrated  in  many  places ;  the  true  worship  of 
God,  true  invocation,  and  the  right  use  of  the  sacraments,  are 
all  done  away  with.  All  godly  preachers  are  placed  in  the 
greatest  danger  ;  those  who  have  not  yet  known  by  experience 
the  filthiness  of  a  prison  are  looking  hourly  for  it."' 

Churches  and  communities  of  Continental  Protestants  had 
been  sanctioned  by  Edward,  for  foreigners  resident  in  various 
parts,  and  many  of  the  learned  European  Reformers,  invited  to 
England  by  Cranmer,  were  still  in  the  country.  Among  these, 
also,  the  greatest  alarm  now  spread.  Peter  Martyr,*  the  pro- 
fessor of  theology  at  Oxford,  an  Italian,  and  formerly  an 
Augustine  monk,  was  now  forbidden  to  leave  his  house,  and 
was  only  rescued  by  the  zealous  action  of  some  devoted  friends. 
At  first,  indeed,  he  was  only  allowed  to  come  to  London  to 

'  Breviaries — mass-books.  •  Orig.  Letters,  loa 

3  Orig.  Letters,  369.  *  Born  at  l<'lorence  in  1500,  died  1562. 

20 


440  The  English  Reformation.  tad.  1553. 

plead  his  cause  before  the  Council,  but  a  pardon  was  soon  after 
granted  him,  for  in  reality  he  had  done  nothing.  His  meeting 
with  Cranmer  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  these  old  days,  and  of  both 
men.  "  Master  Peter  came  to  London  and  called  upon  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  his  ancient  and  most  revered  host. 
Who  can  express  how  welcome  he  was  .-'  Cranmer  had  so 
earnestly  wished  for  his  coming  that  he  had  often  importuned 
the  Council  to  that  effect,  and  had  offered  to  give  all  his 
property  as  a  security,  if  they  had  any  fear  of  Master  Peter's 
running  away." 

"When  Master  Peter  arrived,  Canterbury  told  him  he  had 
caused  bills  to  be  posted  all  over  London,  in  which  he  offered  to 
prove  that  the  doctrine  received  in  the  time  of  Edward  VL  was 
sound,  agreeable  to  Scripture,  the  same  as  that  of  the  primitive 
Church,  and  approved  by  the  authority  of  the  ancient  fathers,  if 
only  they  would  allow  Peter  Martyr  and  one  or  two  others  to 
be  his  colleagues.  The  Popish  preachers  when  they  saw  that 
many  of  our  priests  were  already  cast  into  prison,  and  that  others 
had  fled,  made  a  great  boast  about  disputing  with  us.  But  when 
the  placards  of  the  archbishop  were  posted  up  they  began  to 
change  their  note,  and  said  that  no  disputation  should  take 
place.  The  spirits  of  the  Gospellers  were,  however,  so 
strengthened  by  the  bills  that  they  no  longer  hesitated  to  lay 
down  their  lives  for  the  truth,  but  their  enemies  were  so 
exasperated  by  them  that  they  instantly  brought  a  new  charge 
of  treason  against  the  Archbishop,  and  cited  him  into  court."^ 

Cranmer  and  Latimer  were,  therefore,  both  summoned 
before  the  Council  on  September  13th,  and  Latimer  that  night, 
Cranmer  the  night  following,  found  themselves  in  the  Tower. 
Ridley  and  Hooper  were  imprisoned  already,  and  Miles 
Coverdale,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  and  Barlow,  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
were  now  added  to  their  number.  Proceedings  were  ordered 
against  the  Archbishop  of  York;    Ponet  of  Winchester,  and 

»  Orig.  Letters,  371. 


A.D.  1553]  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Maty.  441 

Scory  of  Chichester,  with  the  bishops  of  St.  David's,  Chester, 
and  Bristol,  were  deprived  of  their  sees,  and  the  bishops  of 
Ely,  Lincoln,  and  Hereford  removed  from  Parliament.  Fifteen 
of  the  Reforming  bishops  were  thus,  at  a  stroke,  turned  out,  so 
as  not  to  hinder  the  Popish  reaction.  Their  having  been 
married  was  the  offence  alleged  against  most.  Sixteen  new 
bishops  were  presently  consecrated  from  the  thorough-going 
Romanist  faction. 

Parliament  met  in  October,  and  Convocation  sat  at  the  same 
time.  The  counter-revolution  now  ran  fast  to  its  triumph. 
The  laws  passed  in  Edward's  reign  affecting  religion  were 
repealed  by  a  majority  of  three  hundred  and  fifty,^  after  a  keen 
discussion  of  eight  days  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  it  was 
enacted  that  from  the  20th  of  next  December,  there  should  be 
no  other  form  of  divine  service  but  that  used  in  the  last  year  of 
Henry  VUI.'  Convocation  had  the  subject  of  transubstantiation 
once  more  before  it,  and  after  strenuous  resistance  on  the  part  of 
six  of  the  dignified  clergy,  but  with  none  from  any  besides,  the 
Popish  doctrine  was  once  more  declared  the  truth.  No  wonder 
that  the  Reformation  should  have  had  such  a  struggle,  where 
the  pulpit  was  thus  shown  to  have  been  held  throughout  by 
secret  Romanists.  All  the  Old  Party,  bishops  and  others, 
deprived  in  the  past,  were  restored.  The  married  clergy  were 
required  either  to  put  away  their  wives  or  resign  their  benefices; 
no  fewer  than  twelve  thousand,  according  to  Archbishop  Parker, 
being  ejected  on  this  ground  alone.  The  bloody  Six  Articles 
were  revived  in  all  their  horror.  The  mass  was  henceforth  once 
more  restored  throughout  England.  The  Protestant  students 
at  Oxford  were  either  ejected  or  left.  Nor  was  this  all.  The 
fire  of  a  very  real  purgatory  was  rekindled  in  the  land  to  try 
every  man's  sincerity.  Meetings  of  more  than  twelve  persons, 
to  attempt  any  alteration  of  religion,  were  declared  felony,  and 
those  of  a  smaller  number  were  made  punishable  by  a  year's 

The  minoiity  was  80.  '  Burnet,  ii.  395. 


442  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1553 

imprisonment.  Negotiations  were  also  begun  for  a  national 
reconciliation  with  Rome,  and  Cardinal  Pole  was  commissioned 
by  the  Pope,  as  legate,  to  bring  it  about. 

Meanwhile,  Mary  had  been  crowned  on  the  ist  October,  with 
due  pomp,  by  Gardiner,  now  Lord  Chancellor,  in  keeping  with 
a  design  to  restore  the  old  system  of  priest-statesmen,  from 
which  Henry  had  broken  off  after  the  death  of  Wolsey.  The 
enemy  of  the  Reformation  had  thus  the  ear  of  the  crown,  and 
had  become  the  first  officer  of  the  law.  But  another  calamity 
•was  impending  to  the  cause  of  religious  liberty.  The  Emperor 
Charles  had  resolved  to  marry  his  son  Philip  to  Mary,  and  she 
was  only  too  willing  to  take  him.  The  dream  of  her  grand- 
father Ferdinand  to  unite  all  Western  Europe  under  branches  of 
the  Spanish  house  had  passed  to  her  through  her  mother.  The 
line  of  Charles  V.  held  not  only  the  imperial  crown,  but  the 
splendid  inheritance  of  Aragon,  Naples,  Burgundy,  Castile,  and 
the  New  World.  His  brother  Ferdinand  ruled  the  Austrian 
Duchies,  Bohemia,  and  Hungary.  If  Mary  were  married  to 
Charles's  son  Philip,  England,  also,  would  become  Spanish,  and 
the  one  family  would  dominate  nearly  all  Christendom. 

Another,  and  even  stronger  impulse,  moreover,  led  her  to 
meditate  this  alliance.  She  believed,  to  use  her  own  words  at  a 
later  period,  that  "  she  had  been  predestined  and  preserved  by 
God  to  the  succession  of  the  crown,  for  ho  other  end  save  that 
He  might  make  use  of  her,  above  all  else,  in  the  bringing  back 
of  the  realm  to  the  Catholic  faith,"  and  she  could  hope  for  no 
such  efficient  help  in  doing  so  as  a  marriage  with  the  repre- 
sentative of  ultra-Catholic  ideas.  She  was  now  thirty-seven,  and 
had  no  personal  attractions.  Short  in  person,  with  brow  projecting 
a-top,  a  face  pale  and  drawn  by  confirmed  ill  health,  a  thin  bust, 
contrasting  with  symptoms,  below,  of  the  dropsy,  which  was 
already  in  her  system,  it  seemed  improbable  that  she  could 
induce  Philip,  who  was  ten  years  younger,  and  had  already 
been  twice  a  widower,  to  accept  her.  But  Charles  favoured 
the  proposal,  and  Philip,  guiltless  alike  of  heart  and  abiUty,  but 


jLD.  1554]  T/te  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  443 

ambitious  as  a  king,  and  bigoted  as  a  Romanist,  submitted 
himself  passively  to  his  father's  wishes. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  distasteful  to  the  nation. 
Protestants  saw  in  it  the  re-establishment  of  Romanism,  with  its 
worst  horrors  of  revenge  and  persecution,  as  they  now  reigned 
in  the  Low  Countries  under  Charles :  the  conservative  feeling 
of  the  country  shrank  from  an  alliance  which  would  undo 
the  work  of  Henry,  and  make  England  once  more  subject 
to  the  Pope;  and  all,  alike,  revolted  from  a  step  by  which  it  was 
universally  assumed  that  England  would  be  degraded  into  a 
mere  appanage  of  Spain.  Even  the  plunder  of  the  Church 
lands  had  imited  forty  thousand  families  who  had  shared  in  the 
spoils,  against  any  proposal,  which,  by  bringing  back  submission 
to  the  Papacy,  might  strip  them  of  their  new  possessions. 

Whatever  opposition  there  may  have  been  to  the  course 
already  introduced  of  ignoring  the  Protectorate,  and  undoing 
all  the  changes  made  under  it,  there  was  no  common  feeling 
to  make  it  formidable  ;  while  the  abuses  committed  in  Edward's 
name  by  the  successive  factions  of  Somerset  and  Northumber- 
land, had  prejudiced  the  general  mind  against  even  the  good 
that  had  been  effected.  The  Protestant  bishops  had  been 
deprived,  or  arrested,  and  Bonner  and  Gardiner  restored  to 
honour.  Latimer,  as  the  most  eminent  among  ihe  Protestants, 
had  been  sent  to  the  Tower.  Cranmer  had  been  tried  with 
Lady  Jane  Grey,  her  husband,  and  his  two  brothers,  for 
high  treason,  and,  having  pleaded  guilty,  lay  exposed  to  a 
capital  sentence,  which  was  not  carried  out  at  once,  only 
because  he  had  received  the  pallium  from  Rome,  and  must  be 
first  degraded  from  his  priesthood  :  for  Mary  was  too  devout  a 
Papist  to  touch  a  pontifical  archbishop  till  his  ordination  was 
formally  cancelled.  The  foreign  congregations  were  shortly  to 
to  be  ordered  to  leave  the  realm,'  images  had  been  replaced  in 
many  churches,  and  Romanism  with  all  its  characteristics  re- 

1  Feb.,  1554. 


444  1"^^^  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1554 

introduced,  without  raising  any  popular  movement.  The  suc- 
cessive public  deaths  of  the  two  uncles  of  King  Edward,  as 
criminals  ;  the  plunder  of  what  remained  to  the  Church  after 
Henry's  gigantic  spoliations — plunder  which  had  stripped  every 
see  of  half  its  lands,  and  suppressed  that  of  Durham  entirely ; 
which  had  shorn  the  chantries  and  guilds  of  their  endowments, 
and  seemed  ready  to  swallow  up  all  that  were  left  in  any  other 
form,  had  shocked  the  public  morality,  low  though  it  was. 

The  crown  also  had  suffered  in  the  disastrous  minority,  from 
the  same  incapacity  and  greed.  The  friends  of  Somerset  and 
Warwick  had  had  its  lands  granted  to  them,  to  the  value  of 
five  millions  of  our  money,  and  the  coinage  had  been  debased  to 
the  utmost,  to  attempt  by  gross  fraud  to  stave  off  the  bankruptcy 
brought  about  by  official  extravagance.  Church  plate,  and  even 
the  gold  and  silver  on  the  bindings  of  books,  had  been  melted 
down,  to  mix  with  worthless  alloy  and  be  palmed  off  as  money. 
Prices  had  risen  as  the  value  of  the  coin  fell,  and  riots  had 
broken  out  in  many  places  on  this  account.  The  religious 
reforms  enacted,  admirable  in  themselves,  had  been  prejudiced 
in  the  eyes  of  the  mass  as  the  gift  of  politicians  so  shameless 
and  incompetent.  Somerset  had  already  found  it  necessary  to 
employ  Italian  and  German  mercenaries  to  put  down  risings 
which  threatened  another  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  and  North- 
umberland had  had  to  pack  the  House  of  Commons,  by  the 
most  unblushing  stretch  of  prerogative,  to  carry  a  majority  for 
his  schemes.  Men  bore  with  much,  in  the  belief  that  Edward 
would  erelong  undo  the  misrule  of  his  minority,  and  though 
his  death  blasted  this  hope,  they  transferred  their  expectations 
to  his  sister  Mary. 

As  long,  therefore,  as  Mary  only  undid  the  work  of  the 
Protectorate,  there  was  no  active  resistance.  But  when  she 
threatened  the  new  religious  liberties  of  the  nation,  and,  above 
all,  when  its  civil  liberty,  also,  seemed  endangered,  Parliament 
showed  the  roused  feelings  of  the  nation  by  the  most  vigorous 
watchfulness  and   opposition.     It  had  passed  the  reactionary 


A.D.  IS54J  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  445 

religious  bills  only  after  an  eight  days' discussion,  and  even  then 
had  shown  a  strong  minority  against  them.*  Nor  would  they 
have  been  passed  at  all,  had  not  Gardiner  bribed  the  leading 
members  by  pensions,  some  of  /"200,  some  of  ;^ioo  a  year, 
for  their  votes,'  and  created  a  party  for  them  in  the  country, 
by  giving  in  bribes  a  sum  of  four  hundred  thousand  pounds, 
sent  by  the  emperor  for  the  purpose.  If  the  House  had  removed 
the  stain  of  illegitimacy  from  the  queen,  it  had  also  repealed 
all  the  new  treasons  and  felonies  created  under  Henry  and 
Edward,  and  protected  England  against  danger  from  the  Spanish 
marriage,  by  very  stringent  provisions.  Cromwell's  system  of 
referring  all  questions  to  Parliament  had  awakened  a  passion 
for  independence — the  secret  design,  assuredly,  of  so  clear- 
headed a  statesman  ;  as  his  Church  polity,  however  ambiguous 
for  the  time,  was  hereafter  to  lay  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the 
Tudor  despotism  in  religion. 

No  longer  servile  as  in  the  days  of  Henry,  Parliament  there- 
fore, like  the  nation,  set  its  face  against  the  Spanish  marriage, 
and,  to  Mary's  amazement,  sent  a  request  by  a  deputation,  that 
she  should  marry  an  Englishman ;  but  her  pale  face  flushed  as 
she  told  them,  with  her  man-like  voice,  that  "  the  House  had 
taken  too  much  on  itself,  and  that  she  would  take  counsel  on 
such  a  matter  with  God,  and  with  none  other." 

The  queen's  determination,  thus  universally  distasteful,  coming 
as  it  did  after  so  much  that  was  ominous,  was  felt  by  the 
Protestants  to  mean  the  return  of  Romanism  and  persecution. 
A  widespread  rebellion  was  soon  planned,  with  the  secret 
object  of  setting  Lady  Jane  Grey  on  the  throne,  or,  perhaps, 
Elizabeth.  It  was  to  break  out  simultaneously  in  the  West,  in 
the  Midland  counties,  and  in  Kent,  but  only  the  last  proved  for- 
midable. Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  followed  by  thousands  who  believed 
that  the  Spaniards  were  coming  to  take  England,  marched 
on  London,  and  would  apparently  have  been  successful,  had 

*  Note,  page  441.        "^  Burnet.    Abridgment  by  himself,  315. 


446  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1554. 

they  been  led  on  more  quickly.  As  it  was,  Mary  won  over  the 
City  authorities,  by  promising  not  to  marry  without  the  assent 
of  Parliament.  The  City  gate  at  London  Bridge  was  closed  ; 
the  Kentish  men,  after  wreaking  their  hatred  on  Gardiner  by 
sacking  his  palace,  had  to  march  round  by  Kingston,  and  only  a 
few  reached  London  at  last,  wearied  and  disorganized,  to  be 
ignominiously  scattered,  with  the  loss  of  their  leader. 

This  rising  proved  fatal  to  Lady  Jane  Grey  and  her  husband, 
as  well  as  to  the  immediate  actors.  The  Duke  of  Suffolk,  the 
head  of  her  family,  and  her  uncle,  Sir  Thomas  Grey,  also, 
perished,  and  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  was  executed  on  the  nth  of 
April.  Mary's  Tudor  fury  had  been  thoroughly  roused,  and 
vented  itself  in  ferocious  severity.  Londoners  were  shocked  by 
seeing  eighty  or  a  hundred  bodies  dangling  from  gibbets  in 
all  parts  of  the  town,  and  executions  followed  elsewhere  so 
numerously,  and  for  so  long  a  time,  that  remonstrances  were  at 
last  made  by  some  round  her  respecting  them.  One  of  the 
leaders,  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton,  having  been  acquitted  by 
the  jury  who  tried  him,  they  were  thrown  into  prison,  till  next 
spring,  and  only  released  on  paying  the  monstrous  fine  of  ;^2,ooo, 
equal  now  to  twelve  times  that  amount. 

In  April,  Parliament,  which  had  been  summoned  by  Gardiner 
at  Oxford,  as  the  Romish  head-quarters,  reluctantly  sanctioned 
the  queen's  marriage,  and  on  the  25th  of  July  she  was  married 
to  Philip,  at  Southampton,  but  not  without  bitter  quarrels 
between  his  followers  and  the  English.  Meanwhile,  as  far  back 
as  March,  Cranmer,  Latimer,  and  Ridley,  had  been  removed 
from  the  Tower  and  sent  to  Oxford,  far  from  Protestant 
London.  There,  on  the  28th  of  April,  a  public  disputation 
on  the  mass  was  held,  under  the  presidency  of  the  Dean  of 
Windsor,  soon  after  found  guilty  of  adultery;  but  they  were 
borne  down  by  the  clamour  of  their  adversaries,  and  being 
pronounced  "  obstinate  heretics,"  on  refusing  to  conform, 
were  sentenced  to  death  as  such.  All  three  bore  themselves 
bravely.   Cranmer  appealed  "  from  their  judgment  and  sentence 


A.D.  1554.]  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  447 

to  the  just  judgment  of  Almighty  God,  trusting  to  be  present 
with  Him  in  heaven,  for  whose  presence  on  the  altar  he  was  thus 
condemned."  Ridley  told  his  judges  that  the  sentence  would 
only  send  them  the  sooner  to  the  place  to  which  they  wished  to 
go,  and  Latimer  "  thanked  God  that  his  life  had  been  prolonged 
that  he  might  glorify  God  by  this  kind  of  death." 

But  Mary  and  Gardiner  sought  still  higher  game.  Both  were 
determined  that,  if  possible,  Elizabeth  should  not  succeed  to  the 
throne,  and  would  fain  have  sent  her  to  the  block.  As  it  was 
she  was  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  nothing  saved  her  but  the  temper 
of  the  people,  whose  threatening  attitude  made  her  be  released 
before  long,  and  sent  off  to  gentler  detention  at  Woodstock. 
Unable  to  strike  in  this  direction,  Gardiner  turned  more  fiercely 
than  ever  on  the  Reformers.  Hooper,  Ferrar,  Coverdale,  Fhil- 
pot,  Taylor,  and  Sandars,  were  ordered  to  attend  a  disputation 
at  Cambridge,  similar  to  that  at  which  Cranmer  and  his  com- 
panions had  been  hooted  down  at  Oxford.  But  for  the  moment 
the  plot  miscarried,  for  they  refused  to  dispute  in  a  court  in 
which  they  were  prisoners. 

Philip  had  entered  London  on  the  1 8th  August,  1554,  with 
abundant  outward  pomp,  but  not  less  popular  hatred.  His  lug- 
gage was  plundered,  and  the  property  could  neither  be  recovered, 
nor  could  the  thieves  be  found  out.  The  servants  of  Alva  and 
the  other  lords  were  insulted  in  the  streets,  and  the  friars  who 
came  with  them  were  advised  to  put  off  their  gowns  for  fear  of 
popular  vengeance.  London  had  had  enough  of  monks,  and 
hated  the  very  sight  of  them.  Gardiner  showed  his  real  opinions 
by  an  ominous  sign  on  the  entrance  day.  On  one  of  the 
decorations  in  Gracechurch  Street,  Henry  was  painted  giving  a 
book  to  Prince  Edward  ;  the  words  Verbum  Dei^  showing  that 
it  was  the  Bible.  A  summons  forthwith  brought  the  artist  to 
the  chancellor's  presence,  and  after  being  denounced  as  a 
"  knave,  traitor,  and  heretic,"  he  was  made  to  blot  out  the  Bible 
and  put  a  pair  of  gloves  in  its  stead.' 

'  Word  of  God.  '  Foxe,  vi.  55^ 


448  TJie  English  Reformation.  [a  d  1554 

The  intense  dissatisfaction  in  London  was  increased  by  a 
set  of  questions  drawn  up  by  Bonner  in  September  for  the  clergy 
of  his  diocese.  Examiners  were  appointed  for  each  parish  to 
inquire  whether  the  minister  was,  or  ever  had  been  married,  and 
whether  if  married  and  separated  from  his  wife  he  still  visited 
her  secretly  ;  whether  his  sermons  were  orthodox  ;  whether  he 
duly  exhorted  his  people  to  attend  mass  and  confession ;  whether 
he  associated  with  heretics,  or  had  associated  with  them  ;  and 
even  what  dress  he  wore.  Such  an  inquisition  was  widely 
resented,  and  so  great  an  excitement  rose  that  Bonner  was 
forced  by  the  Council  to  recall  his  invidious  order.  Jealousy  of 
the  crown  and  of  Gardiner  had  quickened  the  suspicion  of  all 
men. 

Parliament  met  in  November,  and  was  opened  by  Gardiner  as 
Lord  Chancellor.  The  great  work  of  handing  back  England  to 
the  Pope  was  to  be  undertaken  and  was  erelong  carried  out.  A 
promise  made  in  an  official  circular  "  that  no  alteration  was 
intended  of  any  man's  possessions,"  removed  one  great  motive 
for  resisting  change.  At  the  elections,  the  voters  were 
admonished  to  choose  "such  as  were  of  a  wise,  grave,  and 
Catholic  sort,"  and  the  instinctive  loyalty  of  Englishmen 
responded  as  the  queen  wished.  The  remembrance  of  the  evil 
days  of  the  Protectorate  was  still  only  too  fresh ;  and  it  was, 
moreover,  a  characteristic  of  the  times  to  obey  the  directions 
of  the  crown  till  they  became  intolerable. 

The  attainder  of  Pole,  the  new  legate,  was  reversed  without 
trouble  by  both  Houses,  and  then  came  the  great  question  of  the 
repeal  of  all  the  Acts  passed  by  Henry  or  Edward  prejudicial  to 
the  claims  of  the  Pope.  As  time,  however,  would  be  needed  for 
this,  Pole  was  content  to  receive  a  promise  that  they  should  be 
repealed,  and  this  was  passed  in  the  Commons  with  two  dis- 
sentients in  a  House  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  members,  while 
in  the  Lords  no  opposition  was  offered.  ^     At  last,  on  the  5th 

1  Nov.  29, 1554. 


A.D.  I55S.]  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Maty.  449 

January,  1555,  the  momentous  counter-revolution  was  com- 
pleted, and  all  that  Henry  had  gained  for  England  was  swept  away 
at  one  stroke.  The  list  of  acts  repealed  is  the  strongest  condemna- 
tion of  their  being  cancelled.  Among  them  were  the  act  against 
obtaining  dispensations  from  Rome  for  pluralities  and  non-resi- 
dence ;  the  act  that  no  one  shall  be  cited  out  of  his  or  her  own 
diocese ;  the  acts  against  appeals  to  Rome ;  against  the  payments 
of  annates  and  first-fruits  to  the  Pope ;  the  act  of  royal  supre- 
macy ;  the  act  against  exactions  by  the  See  of  Rome,  and 
ten  others.  The  honour  and  good  of  England  were  thus  sacrificed 
without  scruple.  But  the  pecuniary  interests  of  all  who  had 
shared  the  plunder  of  the  Church  were  carefully  guarded  by 
special  legislation.  Even  the  statute  of  Mortmain,  the  legacy 
of  ten  generations  of  EngUsh  kings,  was  given  up.  Yet,  happily, 
manhood  enough  was  left  to  resist  the  demand  for  the  repeal  of 
the  statute  of  Premunire,  and  to  limit  the  restored  authority  of 
the  bishops  to  matters  of  opinion,  retaining  in  all  else  the  supre- 
macy of  the  civil  courts,  so  that  even  in  the  hour  of  its  triumph, 
Rome  had  to  feel  that  its  victory  was  only  partial. 

Accustomed  as  we  are,  nowadays,  to  hear  Protestantism 
blamed  for  all  the  abuses  surviving  in  our  Church,  or  recently 
removed,  it  is  of  great  value  to  note  in  the  very  headings  of  the 
acts  which  Rome  managed  to  get  cancelled,  that  these  abuses 
are  not  the  growth  of  Protestantism,  but  a  baleful  legacy,  in 
every  case,  from  the  pre-Reformation  Church.  Pluralities  and 
non-residence  ;  the  sale  of  livings ;  the  abuses  of  ecclesiastical 
courts,  and  whatever  else  has  grieved  the  heart  of  Evangelical 
Protestants  in  the  past,  or  grieves  it  now,  are  only  pestilent 
remnants  of  the  old  corruptions,  once  universal,  of  which  the 
Popes  were  the  defenders  and  patrons,  and  in  the  use  of  which 
they  were  the  worst  and  most  scandalous  of  all  offenders.  Nor 
is  it  too  much  to  say  so  deliberately ;  the  history  of  England 
and  its  statute-books  prove  it.  Under  Rome  the  Church  of 
England  was  leprous  from  head  to  foot  as  Gehazi ;  under  Pro- 
testantism, there  is  at  most,  here  and  there,  a  speck  of  the  old 


450  The  English  Rejormatton.  [a.d.  iss* 

foulness  still  uneradicated,  but  destined,  thank  God,  to  be  rooted 
out  some  day  ! 

The  repeal  of  the  religious  Acts  of  Henry's  reign  had  been 
fitly  preluded  by  another  triumph  in  every  way  worthy  of  the 
Romish  cause.  Cranmer  had  obtained,  under  Edward,  the 
repeal  of  the  old  statutes  against  heretics,  and  the  limitation  of 
punishment  for  religious  opinions  within  very  narrow  bounds. 
But  fire  and  gibbet  were  once  more  to  be  commissioned  as 
divine  appointments  for  the  conversion  of  England,  for  Gardiner, 
on  the  15th  December,  1554,  had  the  joy  of  seeing  the  old 
statutes  for  burning  Lollards,  and  for  harrying  all  whom  he  and 
his  brethren  might  call  heretics,  restored  in  all  their  ferocity. 
Longing  to  wreak  vengeance  on  evangelical  religion,  he  had 
now  the  opportunity,  for  all  Protestants  were  once  more  at  his 
mercy  and  that  of  his  party. 

A  fortnight  before,  on  the  30th  November,  a  notable  ceremony 
had  taken  place.  High  mass  had  that  morning  been  sung  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  attended  by  Philip,  the  awful  Alva,  and 
six  hundred  Spanish  nobles  and  gentlemen  in  Philip's  train. 
England  was  represented  by  a  splendid  throng  of  dignitaries 
and  citizens,  lay  and  clerical,  in  their  robes  and  bravery,  crowding 
the  Abbey.  In  the  afternoon  Westminster  Hall  was  thronged 
by  a  still  more  famous  gathenng.  Mary,  Philip,  and  the  legate, 
sat  aloft  on  a  platform,  the  bishops  and  lay  peers  ranged  at  their 
feet,  the  Commons  and  spectators  crowding  the  outer  space. 
In  the  twilight  Gardiner  rose,  and,  bowing  to  the  king  and  queen, 
announced  that  the  Lords  and  Commons  had  seen  their  error  in 
having  swerved  from  obedience  to  the  See  Apostolic,  and  humbly 
craved  forgiveness,  and  reunion  with  Rome.  In  their  name,  and 
with  their  renewed  assent,  he  then  read  aloud  an  humble 
petition  to  Mary  and  her  husband  declaring  that  the  Lords 
spiritual  and  temporal,  and  the  Commons,  representing  the  whole 
realm  of  England,  in  their  own  names  particularly,  and  also  in 
that  of  all  England,  made  most  humble  suit  to  their  majesties^ 
to  intercede  for  them  to  "  the  Most  Reverend  Father  in  God  the 


A.D.  1554]  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  451 

Lord  Cardinal  Pole,  legate,  sent  specially  hither  by  our  Most 
Holy  Father  Pope  Julius  III.,  and  the  See  Apostolic  of  Rome." 
They  declared  themselves  very  sorry  and  repentant  for  the 
schism  and  disobedience  of  the  past,  for  making  any  laws 
against  the  supremacy  of  Rome,  or  otherwise  impugning  it,  and 
promised  to  show  their  sincerity  by  repealing  all  offensive 
statutes.  They  "  most  humbly  besought  their  Majesties,  as 
persons  undefiled  in  the  offences  "  of  England  or  the  Parliament, 
"  towards  the  Holy  See,  so  to  set  their  most  humble  suit,  that  they 
might  obtain  from  the  See  Apostolic,  by  the  Most  Reverend 
Father,  the  legate,  as  well  particularly  as  universally,  absolution, 
release,  and  discharge,  from  all  danger  of  such  censures  and 
sentences  as  by  the  laws  of  the  Church  they  had  fallen  into,  and 
that  they  might,  as  repentant  children,  be  received  into  the 
bosom  and  unity  of  Christ's  Church,  so  that  this  noble  realm, 
with  all  its  members,  might  in  unity  with  the  See  Apostolic  and 
Pope  for  the  time  being,  and  in  perfect  obedience  to  them, 
serve  God  and  their  majesties  to  the  furtherance  and  advance- 
ment of  His  honour  and  glory."* 

Philip  and  Mary,  having  taken  this  petition,  forthwith  did  their 
part  by  asking  the  legate's  pity  for  the  penitents,  and  then, 
dropping  on  their  knees,  the  whole  assembly  followed  their 
example,  and  Pole  had  the  supreme  delight  of  reading  a 
solemn  form  of  Absolution,  purging  England  from  its  heresy 
and  schism,  and  restoring  it  "  into  the  unity  of  Our  Mother, 
the  Holy  Church."  England,  prostrate  in  the  persons  of  its 
bishops,  nobles,  and  Commons,  before  a  priest,  had  once  more 
become  professedly  Romish.  The  men — bishops,  peers,  and 
knights  of  the  shire — who  had  stripped  the  Pope  of  all  power 
in  England,  and  denounced  his  supremacy  over  the  Church, 
had  gone  on  their  knees  to  ask  his  pardon,  though  careful  to 
keep  the  fat  Church  lands,  and  the  rich  tithes  they  had  gained 
in  the  general  scramble  for  Church  plunder  ;  and  so  eager  had 

'  Foxe,  vi  573. 


452  TJie  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1535. 

the  Pope  been  to  regain  his  sway,  that  he  had  consented  to 
wink  at  their  sacrilege,  for  the  sake  of  their  outward  allegiance. 
But  the  spoiling  of  the  Church  did  not  immediately  affect 
Rome,  however  cruel  might  be  the  disappointment  of  the  clergy 
at  the  loss  of  their  endowments. 

With  the  opening  of  the  new  year,  1555,  the  counter-revo- 
lution inaugurated  its  triumph  befittingly.  The  new  Romish 
era  was  opened  by  a  procession  through  the  streets  of  London 
of  a  hundred  and  sixty  priests,  wearing  copes,  and  "  singing 
litanies  very  lustily  :  "  ninety  crosses  being  carried  aloft  among 
them,  while  eight  bishops  marched  behind ;  Bonner,  carrj'ing 
the  host  under  a  grand  canopy,  closing  the  long  array.  The 
clergy  were  ordered  to  be  called  together  in  every  diocese,  to 
make  confession  of  their  offences  against  the  Pope,  and  receive 
his  absolution  through  the  legate.  The  laity  were  then  to  be 
invited  to  follow  their  example,  all  who  had  not  done  so  before 
Easter  being  threatened  with  the  utmost  rigour  of  the  law. 
The  bishops  once  more  sat  in  their  own  courts,  with  all  their 
old  terrors,  and  every  man's  hfe  was  thus  at  their  mercy,  for 
not  to  be  entered  on  the  lists  as  having  conformed  was  taken 
as  a  proof  of  guilt. 

Visitations  of  each  diocese  were  forthwith  commenced,  to 
carry  out  this  new  Inquisition.  Bonner  particularly  signalized 
himself  by  his  zeal,  breaking  out  into  the  foulest  language,  and 
even  striking  his  clergy,  if  the  bells  were  not  rung  when  he 
came  near  any  church,  or  if  he  did  not  find  the  wafer  exposed 
for  worship,  in  Romish  fashion.^  Gardiner,  at  the  head  of  the 
Government,  urged  all  the  bishops  to  the  utmost  severity,  tell- 
ing them  especially  to  make  public  examples  of  the  preachers, 
to  crush  whom,  he  maintained,  would  be  followed  by  the  conver- 
sion of  the  people. 

Nor  were  the  Protestants  passive.  Mary  found  offensive 
bills  and  pamphlets  strewed  even  in  the  palace,  and  Gardiner 

'  Bumet,  322, 


■i-0. 1555]  TAe  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  453 

was  infuriated  by  the  reprinting  of  his  book  on  "True 
Obedience,"  in  which  he  had  denounced  the  marriage  of 
Mary's  mother  as  incestuous,  and  impugned  the  Papal 
supremacy.  He  could  only  answer  that  Peter  had  denied 
his  master,  but  it  was  retorted  that  Peter's  denial  was 
that  of  a  moment,  while  his  had  lasted  twenty-four  years. 
Ballads  and  pamphlets,  stinging  the  promoters  of  the 
apostacy,  and  ridiculing  the  revived  mummeries,  appeared 
on  every  hand.  Mary  and  the  bishops  alike  thirsted  for 
vengeance. 

After  some  preliminary  raids  against  Protestant  congregations, 
in  town  and  country,  the  first  Auto  da  Fe  of  restored  Popery 
was  resolved  upon.  At  the  end  of  January,  Prebendary 
Rogers,  Bishop  Hooper,  Dr.  Taylor,  rector  of  Hadleigh, 
Prebendary  Bradford,  and  seven  more,  were  brought  before 
Gardiner  and  other  bishops  specially  commissioned  to 
extirpate  heresy,  and  on  their  refusing  to  acknowledge  the 
Pope,  and  return  to  the  Romish  Church,  were  remanded  to 
prison  till  the  next  day.  Hooper,  Rogers,  Saunders,  once  a 
Coventry  clergyman  but  now  a  London  rector,  and  Dr.  Taylor, 
were  then  once  more  brought  up,  and  condemned  to  the  fire  as 
obstinate  heretics,  the  sentence  to  be  carried  out  at  the  places 
where  each  had  ministered. 

Rogers  has  been  mentioned  already  as  a  Cambridge  student, 
afterwards  English  chaplain  at  Antwerp,  where  he  had  helped 
Tyndale  and  Coverdale  in  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into 
English,  and  by  editing  the  edition  known  as  Matthew's  Bible. 
Passing  on  to  Wittenberg,  the  centre  of  Lutheranism,  he  had 
taken  charge  of  a  congregation  there  for  many  years,  till,  in 
Edward's  reign,  he  returned  to  England.  Ridley  then  made 
him  a  prebend  of  St.  Paul's,  and  the  dean  and  chapter 
appointed  him  one  of  their  special  preachers.  Such  a  man 
could  not  fail  to  draw  on  himself  the  hatred  of  Gardiner  and 
Bonner,  He  was  arrested  soon  after  Mary's  accession,  and 
after  being  confined  for  a  time  to  his  own  house,  had  been 


454  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  1555 

thrown  into  Newgate  more  than  a  year  before  his  condemnation. 
He  had  a  wife  and  eleven  children,  and  might  have  fled  to  the 
Continent  before  his  committal  to  prison,  but  he  disdained  to 
do  so,  choosing  rather  to  stand  stoutly  in  defence  of  the  faith  of 
Christ.  Condemned  on  the  29th  January  for  believing  aright 
that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  the  Church  of  Antichrist,  and  for 
denying  that  the  wafer  in  the  Sacrament  is  God,  he  was 
roused  on  the  4th  February  by  the  wife  of  the  keeper  of 
Newgate  from  a  sound  sleep,  with  the  warning  to  prepare  at 
once  for  the  fire.  Bonner  was  in  waiting  to  degrade  him,  and 
refused  his  request  to  talk  a  few  words  with  his  wife  before  his 
burning.  Having  been  handed  over  to  the  sheriffs,  he  was  led 
to  Smithfield,  repeating  the  Psalm,  "  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O 
God,"^  all  the  way,  "  all  the  people  wonderfully  rejoicing  at  his 
constancy,  with  great  praises  and  thanks  to  God  for  the  same." 
His  wife  and  children,  eleven  in  number,  "  ten  of  them  able 
to  go,  and  one  at  the  breast,"  met  him  -by  the  way,  but  nothing 
could  move  him  from  fidelity  to  his  conscience.  A  pardon 
brought  to  the  stake,  on  condition  of  his  recanting,  had  as  little 
effect.  The  fire  was  presently  kindled,  near  the  spot  where  the 
martyrs'  memorial  in  Smithfield  now  stands,  but  he  seemed  to 
take  no  heed  of  it,  "washing  his  hands  in  the  flames,  as  if 
they  had  been  cold  water,"  and  thus  he  passed  away  to  his 
crown. 

On  the  same  day,  Lawrence  Saunders,  rector  of  All 
Hallows,  London,  also  a  married  man,  was  sent  off  from 
Newgate  to  Coventry  to  die  there,  that  his  burning  might  awe 
the  Protestants  of  the  Midland  Counties.  It  took  three  days 
to  reach  the  town,  where,  having  been  lodged  over-night 
in  the  common  gaol,  he  was  next  morning  brought  to  a 
field  outside  the  houses,  to  die.  Having  kneeled  at  the 
stake  and  prayed,  he  rose,  and  clasping  it  in  his  arms,  kissed 
it,  with  the  words — "  Welcome  the  cross  of  Christ !     Welcome 

'  Psalm  11 


A.D  isss.]  The  Evil  Days  of  Qiieen  Mary.  455 

everlasting  life,"  and,  so,  fire  being  set  to  the  faggots,  he  fell 
asleep. 

Bishop  Hooper's  death  was  appointed  for  Gloucester,  in  his 
own  diocese.  He  had  lain  in  prison  since  September  i,  1553 — • 
a  year  and  a  half — with  no  bed  but  "a  little  pad  of  straw,  a 
rotten  covering,  and  a  tick  with  a  few  feathers  in  it,  till  by  God's 
means,  good  people  sent  him  bedding  to  lie  on."  "  The  town 
ditch  on  the  one  side,  and  the  sink  and  filth  of  all  the  house 
on  the  other,  had  infected  him  with  various  diseases."*  Still 
his  brave  heart  bore  up,  for  he  had  long  anticipated  his  death 
at  the  hands  of  Bonner,  having  even  chosen  his  arms  as  bishop 
with  a  premonition  of  martyrdom,  for  they  showed  a  lamb  in  a 
fiery  bush,  with  sunbeams  from  heaven  descending  on  it.  He 
was  degraded  from  the  priesthood  by  Bonner  at  the  same  time 
as  Rogers,  on  the  4th  February,  and  was  at  once  sent  off  to 
Gloucester,  to  his  great  joy,  for  he  wished  to  die  among  his 
own  people,  and  on  hearing  the  news  instantly  sent  for  his  boots, 
spurs,  and  cloak,  to  be  ready  to  start.  Seven  thousand  people 
gathered  to  see  his  end.  Being  a  tall  man,  and  standing 
besides  on  a  raised  step  at  the  stake,  he  was  seen  far  and  near  by 
the  weeping  and  sorrowful  people.  Piles  of  light  reeds  having 
been  put  round  him,  he  lifted  two  bundles  of  them,  and  having 
kissed  them,  put  one  under  each  arm,  and  showed  how  the  rest 
should  be  laid.  Unfortunately,  the  faggots  put  above  the  reeds 
were  green,  and  would  not  bum  freely,  and  dry  faggots  and 
new  reeds  had  to  be  brought  to  rekindle  the  fire.  Meanwhile 
the  martyr  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  slow  agony  praying,  "  For 
God's  sake,  good  people,  let  me  have  more  fire  ! " — ^for  his  limbs 
were  burning,  while  his  body  was  almost  untouched.  But  a  third 
fire  had  to  be  kindled.  A  bladder  of  gunpowder  had  been  put 
between  his  legs,  and  another  under  each  arm,  yet  even  when 
they  exploded  they  did  not  kill  him,  for  a  strong  wind  seemed 
to  blow   aside  the  flame.     Men  heard  him  praying  from  the 

*  Original  Letters,  102. 


456  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1555. 

midst  of  the  fire  for  some  time,  and  when  he  could  not  speak 
he  beat  with  his  hands  on  his  breast,  till,  after  unspeakable 
agony,  his  strength  at  last  failed,  and  he  fell  forward  on  the 
iron  ring  round  his  waist  and  died,  after  being  more  than 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  in  the  fire.  So  passed  away  one  of 
the  most  apostoHc  men  of  the  age :  a  bishop  who  in  an 
age  of  almost  universal  covetousness  not  only  lived  simply 
but  gave  away  most  of  his  income  :  a  preacher,  famous  next  to 
Latimer. 

Dr.  Rowland  Taylor  had  been  condemned  with  the  other 
three.  He  was  "  a  doctor  both  of  the  civil  and  canon  law,  and 
a  right  perfect  divine  :"  one  of  Ridley's  converts,  and  worthy 
of  such  a  teacher.  As  rector  of  Hadleigh,  in  Suffolk,  he 
realized  Chaucer's  ideal  of  the  good  parson,  and  Bishop  Heber 
well  says,  that  "  there  is  nothing  more  beautiful  in  the  whole 
beautiful  Book  of  Martyrs  than  the  account  which  Foxe  has 
given  of  him.  His  warmth  of  heart,  his  simplicity  of  manners, 
his  touching  humility,  his  zeal  in  all  the  holy  duties  of  his  office, 
no  less  than  his  courage  in  death,  and  the  grand  cheerfulness 
with  which  he  met  it,  have  made  his  memory  fragrant  for  ever- 
more." He  had  been  summoned  before  Gardiner  in  1553,  for 
resisting  the  introduction  of  the  Mass  at  Hadleigh,  and  was 
committed  to  prison  on  refusing  to  yield.  When  condemned, 
Bonner  came  to  him,  as  to  his  companions,  to  degrade  him, 
and  to  force  him  to  put  on  the  dress  of  a  Romish  priest.  But 
for  once  he  felt  himself  put  to  shame,  for  Taylor  resisted  every 
attempt  to  force  on  him  the  hated  vestments,  and  when  at  last 
compelled  to  yield,  treated  the  matter  with  such  contempt  that 
Bonner  would  have  struck  him  with  his  crozier  had  not  his 
chaplain  prevented  him. 

On  the  way  to  Hadleigh  the  sheriffs  tried  their  utmost  to 
persuade  him  to  recant,  urging  every  motive  they  could,  but  in 
vain.  Coming  within  a  mile  of  the  village,  his  cheerfulness 
made  every  one  wonder.  "  I  lack  not  past  two  stiles  to  go 
over,"  said  he, "  and  I  am  even  at  my  Father's  house."   Finding 


A-D  ISS51  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  457 

he  was  to  go  through  Hadleigh,  he  ttank^^d  God  that  he  would 
see  once  more  before  he  died  the  f  ock  whom  he  had  loved  so 
heartily  and  taught  so  truly,  and  prayed  God  to  keep  them 
stedfast  in  His  word  of  Truth.  The  streets  were  thronged  on 
both  sides  of  the  way,  as  he  passed,  with  men  and  women 
waiting  to  see  him,  and  tears  and  sighs  broke  from  all  as  he 
came  in  sight,  with  tender  outcries  of  love  and  grateful  pity. 
At  the  poor's  house  he  threw  to  those  at  the  doors  what  money 
he  had  remaining  of  that  by  which  friends  had  supported  him 
in  prison.  Having  reached  the  spot  where  he  was  to  die,  he 
found  a  great  multitude  gathered,  who  no  sooner  saw  "his 
reverend  and  ancient  face,  with  a  long  white  beard,"  than  they 
burst  into  tears,  praying  that  "  Jesus  Christ  would  strengthen 
him,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  comfort  him  ;"  but  on  his  essaying  to 
speak,  he  was  at  once  hindered.  Taking  off  all  his  outer 
clothing,  he  gave  it  away,  as  having  no  further  use  for  it,  and 
then  tried  once  more  to  speak,  but  received  a  blow  on  the  head 
with  a  cudgel  from  one  of  the  executioners,  and  was  thus  forced 
to  desist.  Having  prayed,  he  went  to  the  stake,  kissed  it,  and 
then  took  his  place  in  a  pitch-barrel  set  for  him,  and  stood  with 
his  back  to  the  stake,  continually  praying.  One  of  the  guard, 
as  they  were  piling  the  faggots,  threw  one  at  his  face,  and  cut 
it  so  that  the  blood  ran  down.  But  the  only  rebuke  he  received 
was,  "  O  friend,  I  have  harm  enough ;  what  needed  that  ?"  As 
he  kept  repeating  the  51st  Psalm  in  English,  a  priest  struck  him 
on  the  mouth,  with  the  words,  "  Ye  knave,  speak  Latin ;  I  will 
make  thee."  But  the  end  was  near,  for  the  fire  was  now 
kindled,  and  the  martyr  holding  up  both  his  hands,  and  crying 
aloud,  "  Merciful  Father  of  Heaven,  for  Jesus  Christ  my 
Saviour's  sake,  receive  my  soul  into  thy  hands,"  stood  still, 
without  either  crying  or  moving,  his  hands  folded  together, 
till  one  of  the  men  round,  with  a  halbert,  struck  him  on  the 
head  so  that  his  brain  was  exposed,  and  his  body  sank  down 
into  the  fire. 
Bradford  had  been  sentenced  with  the  four  thus  burned,  but 


458  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  155$. 

he  was  kept  for  a  future  example.  The  prisons  were  daily  filling 
with  others,  for  Chancellor  Gardiner  and  Mary  were  of  one 
opinion,  that  heresy  must  be  purged  from  the  land  by  fire, 
though  the  one  was  moved  by  a  fierce  revenge,  and  the  other 
by  relentless  bigotry.  But  it  might  have  been  already  clear  to 
both  that  they  had  begun  a  hopeless  struggle,  for  men  had  at 
last  risen  to  genuine  heroism  for  the  Gospel,  and  would  not 
recant  as  they  had  done  of  old.  On  the  9th  of  February,  five 
days  after  the  condemnation  of  Hooper  and  the  others,  six 
more  were  sentenced  by  Bonner  to  die — a  weaver,  a  butcher,  a 
baiber,  an  apprentice  boy,  a  priest,  and  a  gentleman.  Their 
crime  was  denying  that  the  wafer  was  God.  On  the  9th  of 
March  two  more  were  condemned,  and  seven  of  the  whole  were 
burned  at  different  parts  of  the  diocese  before  the  month's  end — 
two  at  Smithfield,  four  in  Essex,  and  one  at  Colchester,  the  last 
having  to  sit  in  a  chair  at  the  stake,  his  legs  having  been  so 
crushed  by  irons  in  Bonner's  prison  that  he  could  not  stand.  It 
was  an  ominous  sign  for  Gardiner  that,  everywhere,  the  people 
showed  the  liveliest  sympathy  with  his  victims,  and  a  fond 
anxiety  that  they  would  be  faithful  to  the  end.  Even  the 
children  round  the  stake  of  the  mangled  Colchester  victim  had 
cried,  "  Lord,  strengthen  thy  servant,  and  keep  thy  promise !" 

Robert  Ferrar,  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  was  the  next  victim. 
He  had  incurred  the  furious  hatred  of  his  cathedral  chapter  for 
trying  to  reform  their  vices  and  bring  them  to  a  pure  and 
Christian  life,  and  had  been  summoned  to  London  and  thrown 
into  prison  on  the  most  frivolous  charges  in  the  last  dark 
days  of  Northumberland's  protectorate.  He  also  had  now,  on 
the  4th  of  February,  been  brought  before  Gardiner,  for,  though 
a  man  specially  blameless,  he  had  been  married,  and  was 
already  in  the  toils.  On  the  30th  of  March,  after  degrada- 
tion from  the  priesthood, — for  he  had  been  deprived  of  his 
bishopric  before, — he  was  burned  in  the  market-place  at  Car- 
marthen. Three  more  victims  were  sacrificed  before  the  end 
of  April. 


AJ).  1S550  The  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary.  459 

In  that  month  the  hopes  of  Mary,  that  she  would  bear  a 
child,  came  to  a  head,  only  to  end  in  bitter  disappointment. 
Misled  by  the  progress  of  dropsy,  she  had  had  prayers  drawn 
up  and  offered  in  all  the  churches  for  the  expected  heir  to  the 
throne.  Papers  also  had  been  printed  to  announce  to  foreign 
courts  that  it  was  a  prince,  and  were  only  kept  in  reserve  till  the 
happy  moment  of  the  birth.  Te  Deums  had  been  chanted  in 
praise  to  God  for  the  expected  event.  At  length,  on  the  30th 
of  April,  the  moment  seemed  to  have  come.  The  bells  rang 
in  all  the  churches ;  bonfires  were  piled  ready  for  lighting,  and 
a  Te  Deum  was  sung  in  St.  Paul's.  Yet  no  child  was  born. 
Mary,  however,  felt  as  yet  no  misgivings.  Priests  marched  in 
procession  through  the  London  streets  singing  litanies,  even  at 
midnight,  by  the  light  of  torches.  The  paupers  from  the  alms- 
houses ;  the  boys  from  the  schools,  with  their  masters  and 
ushers ;  the  civic  dignitaries ;  the  trades  guilds,  and  even  the 
bishops,  with  more  or  less  free  will,  had  similar  marchings  and 
litany  singingd  of  their  own.  Still  no  child  came.  From  con- 
fidence the  unhappy  queen  fell  into  anxiety,  and  gradually  into 
wild  despondency.  It  slowly  became  clear  that  she  was  ill  of  a 
mortal  disease,  but  May  passed  before  she  gave  up  all  hope. 
With  wasted  and  worn  features  and  swollen  person,  the  wretched 
woman  would  sit  on  the  floor,  praying  and  hoping,  and  hoping 
and  praying,  that  God  would  not  forsake  her.  To  brim  her 
misery,  papers  once  more  strewed  the  rooms,  telling  her  that 
her  people  loathed  her. 

It  seemed  to  her  distempered  soul  that  God  must  have  with- 
held the  blessing  so  fervently  craved,  because  of  some  sin  she 
had  committed,  and  this,  she  fancied,  must  have  been  want  of 
zeal  in  uprooting  heresy.  She  therefore  drew  up  a  letter  to  the 
bishops,  to  urge  them  to  greater  activity  in  this  holy  work,  and 
under  this  quickening  fifty  more  Protestants  were  burned  within 
the  next  three  months,  in  the  dioceses  of  London,  Rochester,  and 
Canterbury.  But  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  then,  as  always,  proved 
the  seed  of  the  Church.     "  You  have  lost  the  hearts  of  twenty 


460  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1555. 

thousand  who  were  rank  Papists  within  this  twelve  months," 
wrote  a  lady  to  Bonner.  Everywhere  the  abuses  of  the  Protec- 
torate were  being  quickly  forgotten  in  the  presence  of  the  virtues 
and  heroism  of  the  sufferers,  and  of  the  monstrous  cruelty 
of  Romanism.  The  crowds  round  the  stake  looked  on  the 
victims  as  men  dying  for  their  country,  for  Protestantism  began 
now  to  be  held  English,  while  Popery  was  becoming  hated  as 
a  foreign  and  bloody  superstition.  Hence  any  weakness  at  the 
stake  was  dreaded  as  a  defection  from  the  great  cause.  "  God 
be  praised!"  shouted  the  multitude,  in  their  joy,  when  one 
sufferer,  having  talked  and  prayed  so  long  that  they  feared  he 
would  recant,  at  last  rose  and  took  off  his  cloak,  "  God  be 
praised  1  the  Lord  strengthen  thee,  Cardmaker ;  the  Lord  Jesus 
receive  thy  spirit."  Every  fresh  death  was  a  triumph  over  the 
common  enemy ;  every  sufferer  kindled  enthusiasm  for  the  faith 
in  many  bosoms,  and  deepened  their  ever-widening  hatred  of 
Rome.  "  How  many  living  members  of  Christ  are  thrown  into 
the  flames!"  wrote  one  in  these  days.  "Shall  Winchester* 
always  live  ? " 

Meanwhile,  Pope  Julius  HL  had  died  in  March  ;  his  suc- 
cessor had  reigned  only  three  weeks ;  and  now,  to  Pole's  great 
disappointment,  Peter  Caraffa,  a  man  haughty  and  ambitious, 
even  for  a  Pope,  had  won  the  tiara  as  Paul  IV. '^  No  less 
would  content  him  in  England  than  the  restoration  of  the 
Church  lands  and  property,  and  he  annulled,  by  a  bull,  all 
alienations  of  them  in  the  past,  without  exception.  Nothing 
could  have  been  more  favourable,  in  the  existing  state  of  affairs, 
for  the  Reformers,  for  such  demands  provoked  a  fierce  resist- 
ance. "  He  thinks  it  but  a  very  small  plunder  that  is  offered 
him,"  wrote  one  of  the  exiled  Protestants,  "that  he  is  again 
permitted  to  tyrannize  over  our  consciences,  unless  the  reve- 
nues be  restored  to  the  monasteries, — that  is,  to  the  pigsties. 
God  grant  he  may  urge  his  demands  in  every  possible  way  I 

*  Gardiucr.  2  May  26,  1555. 


1555.] 


T)u  Evil  Days  of  Queen  Mary. 


461 


Perhaps  those  who  have  suffered  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  be  taken 
from  them  by  thieais,  will  not  allow  these  revenues  to  be  taken 
away  even  by  force."' 

*  Sir  Kichard  Morison  to  Bollinger.     Orig.  Letters,  148. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


"DRUNK  WITH  THE  BLOOD  OF  THE  SAINTS." 


MARY  found  to  her  sorrow  that  even  the  burning  of  heretics 
failed  to  secure  the  longing  desire  of  her  soul.  It  was  not, 
indeed,  till  July  that  she  finally  abandoned  all  hope  of  bearing 
a  child  who  should  restore  the  Church,  and  lead  back  a  golden 
age  of  the  Romish  Church,  but  when  the  dream  finally  melted, 
the  shock  was  terrible.  Instead  of  a  second  Holy  Mary  giving 
earth  a  second  Saviour,  as  her  courtly  flatterers  had  hinted  even 
in  the  pulpit,  she  found  herself  a  dying  woman.  The  interval 
was  an  intensely  anxious  one  for  the  Protestants.  Men  dreaded 
that  some  supposititious  child  should  be  foisted  on  the  nation  as 
Mary's,  to  secure  the  succession  to  the  Spaniard  and  Popery. 
Elizabeth,  the  hope  of  the  future,  was  in  danger.  She  was  still 
at  Woodstock,  virtually  a  prisoner,  and  harshly  treated.  But 
the  fading  of  Marys  dream  saved  her,  by  fixing  on  her  more 
than  ever  the  hope  of  the  nation.  It  was  impossible  even  to 
detain  her  longer  in  restraint,  and  she  was  set  at  liberty,  though 
forbidden  the  court. 

But  Mary's  griefs  were  not  yet  full.  Her  husband  had  been 
with  her  a  little  over  a  year,  and  had  long  ago  shown  his  m- 
difference  to  her,  and  his  longing  to  go  away.  The  abdication 
of  his  father,  the  emperor,  now  made  it  even  more  necessary  that 
he  should  do  so,  for  he  was  the  heir  of  Spain,  Naples,  the  Indies, 
and  the  T-ow  Countries,  which  that  act  handed  over  to  him.  On 


j">-  I55S1      "  Drunk  with  the  Blood  of  the  Saints**  463 

the  26th  of  August  Mary  was  carried  to  her  barge  in  an  open 
litter,  surrounded  by  guards  fully  armed,  and  parted  from  Philip 
at  Greenwich,  in  the  vain  hope  that  he  would  keep  his  promise 
of  returning  erelong.  She  was  only  too  soon  to  discover  not 
only  that  he  would  never  come  back,  but  that  he  had  regarded  his 
marriage  as  a  hateful  sacrifice  to  state  policy,  and  was  giving 
himself  up  to  low  immorality,  though  Cardinal  Pole  had  taught 
her  to  believe,  in  a  prayer  he  had  drawn  up,  that  he  was  made 
in  the  image  of  the  Saviour. 

Such  accumulated  griefs  acting  on  a  mind  clouded  like  hers 
by  superstition,  drove  her  more  and  more  to  fierce  homicidal 
madness.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a  man  who  shed  blood  like 
water  when  it  pleased  him,  and  she  had  been  trained  to  believe 
that  heretics,  like  the  ancient  Canaanites,  were  to  be  rooted  out 
from  the  land.  Her  chief,  indeed,  latterly,  her  only  adviser,  was 
Cardinal  Pole,  a  man  naturally  gentle,  but  so  perverted  by  a 
false  theology  as  to  mistake  bloodthirstiness  for  a  supreme 
religious  duty.  Gardiner  and  Bonner  had  kindled  the  flames, 
but  the  fierce  hatred  they  drew  on  themselves  had  made  them 
pause.  Pole  and  Mary,  however,  were  not  moved  by  public 
opinion.  The  bishops  held  their  commissions  to  bum  Protestants 
from  Pole,  and  thus  were  his  agents ;  and  under  these  commis- 
sions, in  Canterbury  alone,  his  cathedral  city,  eighteen  men  and 
women  were  burned,  while  five  died  of  starvation  in  the  city 
gaol,  and  numbers  were  brought  to  the  stake  in  other  parts  of 
the  diocese.  Torquemada  himself  was  amiable  in  private  life, 
and  so  pre-eminently  was  Sir  Thomas  More,  the  self-styled 
"  hammer  of  heretics." 

Cranmer,  Latimer,  and  Ridley  still  lay  in  prison  at  Oxford, 
where  a  fresh  trial  was  ordered  before  Brooks,  the  new  Bishop 
of  Gloucester,  Holyman,  Bishop  of  Bristol,  and  White,  Bishop  of 
Lincoln.  The  three  had  been  consecrated  with  eight  more,  in 
i554>  to  replace  the  Protestant  bishops  of  Henry  and  Edward's 
time.  Brooks  and  Holyman,  now  gorgeous  in  their  scarlet 
hoods  and  their  frills,  died  before  Mary,  and  White  was  deprived 
21 


464  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1355. 

in  1560  as  an  irreconcilable  Papist.  Before  this  court  Cranmer 
was  brought  on  the  7th  of  September,  in  his  black  gown,  leaning 
on  a  stick,  under  charge  of  the  city  guard,  and  was  arraigned  for 
blasphemy,  incontinency — that  is,  for  being  married — and  for 
heresy.  Approaching  the  bar,  he  uncovered  to  the  two  proctors 
for  the  queen,  but  steadily  refused  to  do  so  to  Bishop  Brooks,  the 
President,  alleging,  with  all  courtesy,  that  having  sworn  never  to 
admit  the  authority  of  the  Pope  in  England,  he  could  not  honour 
them.  On  the  proctor's  rising,  after  an  address  from  Brooks, 
Cranmer  protested  with  dignity  against  the  lawfulness  of  the  court, 
saying  that  he  would  make  no  reply  to  any  charge,  except  on  the 
ground  of  being  bound  to  answer  every  man  as  to  his  hope  in 
Christ  Jesus.  He  then  proceeded  to  defend  his  repudiation  of  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Pope  in  England,  but  of  course  with  no  effect. 
The  charge  of  blasphemy  was  thus  settled  against  him,  and  then 
came  the  others.  As  to  his  two  marriages,  he  defended  them 
as  every  way  justifiable,  and  as  to  his  writings,  he  frankly  owned 
them.  He  was  then  cited  to  appear  before  the  Pope  in  eighty 
days,  and  meanwhile  was  taken  back  to  close  confinement, 
which  precluded  his  possibly  doing  so. 

Ridley  and  Latimer  were  next  brought  before  the  court — over 
which  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  now  presided — but  they  had  no 
such  safeguards  of  Papal  ordination  as  had  delayed  the  martyr- 
dom of  Cranmer.  They  had  lain  in  prison  for  over  two  years. 
Ridley,  a  Newcastle  man,  had  been  head  of  Pembroke  Hall  in 
Cambridge  University,  from  which  he  received  his  doctor's 
degree,  after  returning  from  study  in  France.  His  learning  and 
ability  having  attracted  Cranmer's  notice,  he  got  him  made 
Bishop  of  Rochester  in  1547,  after  Edward's  accession,  and 
Bishop  of  London  on  Bonner's  deprivation,  in  1550.  His  piety, 
learning,  and  judgment,  marked  him  as  a  foremost  Reformer, 
and  his  earnestness  made  the  Romanists  specially  hate  him.  To 
a  sermon  of  his  before  Edward,  we  owe  the  existence  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  and  Christ's  Hospitals  in  London,  for  both  had 
been  seized  as  monastic  property  by  Henry  VHL,  and  were  given 


A.D.  1555]     "  Drunk  with  the  Blood  of  (he  Saints.'*  465 

back  for  their  present  uses  only  through  Ridley's  appeal  to  the 
young  king.  Among  the  people  his  popularity  as  a  preacher 
was  unbounded. 

To  the  advantages  of  a  persuasive  eloquence  Ridley  added 
those  of  a  comely  person,  both  in  face  and  figure,  though  rather 
under  than  over  the  middle  height.  His  character,  moreover, 
was  blameless,  his  life  simple  and  pure ;  his  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness felt  by  all. 

When  led  into  court,  Ridley  stood  before  it  bareheaded,  but 
he  put  on  his  cap  when  the  cardinal  and  the  Pope  were  named, 
declining,  like  Cranmer,  to  own  their  authority  in  England. 
Refusing  to  remove  it,  it  was  taken  off  by  a  tipstaff.  The 
charge  against  him  was  his  denial  of  transubstantiation  and  the 
propitiatory  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  although  he  held  that  "  Christ 
was  in  the  sacrament  as  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  water  at  baptism." 
But  he  had  to  add  the  fatal  words  that  "  yet  Christ  was  not  the 
sacrament,  as  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  the  water."  It  was 
enough  that  he  believed  the  bread  and  wine,  after  consecration, 
were  still  what  they  seemed.  Brooks  told  him,  as  was  usual, 
that  "  they  were  not  come  to  condemn  him,  for  bishops  con- 
demned no  one,  but  only  to  cut  him  off  as  a  heretic  from  the 
Church,  whom  the  temporal  judge  might  punish  as  he  chose." 
For  once,  however,  the  miserable  subterfuge  met  an  appropriate 
answer.  "  I  thank  the  court,"  replied  Ridley,  "  for  their  gentle- 
ness, being  the  same  which  Christ  had  of  the  high  priest.  He 
said  it  was  not  lawful  for  him  to  put  any  man  to  death,  but  com- 
mitted Christ  to  Pilate,  yet  would  not  suffer  him  to  absolve  Him, 
though  he  sought,  by  all  the  means  he  might,  to  do  so." 

Latimer,  who  had  been  kept  waiting  outside,  was  now  led  in. 
He  was  at  least  seventy  years  old,'  and  his  life-long  feeble  health 
made  him  even  more  infirm  than  his  age.  True  to  the  simplicity 
of  his  character,  though,  perhaps,  the  foremost  man  then  living 
in  England,  he  appeared  with  his  hat  in  his  hand  ;  a  handkerchief 


*  i  follow  Dcmaus.     Life  of  Lalimer,  p.  5. 


466  TJie  English  Reformation.  ia.d.  1555- 

on  his  head,  over  "  a  nightcap  or  two,"  and,  above  them,  a  great 
cap  such  as  townsmen  use,  with  two  broad  flaps  to  button  under 
the  chin.  The  cold  and  wretchedness  of  the  Oxford  prison 
needed  such  care  of  so  feeble  a  life,  for  it  was  from  an  Oxford 
jail  that  the  terrible  plague  spread,  a  few  years  later,  which 
killed  ninety-five  persons  in  the  first  six  days.^  He  wore  an  old 
threadbare  Bristol- frieze  gown  strapped  to  his  body  by  a  penny 
leathern  girdle,  from  which  his  Testament  hung  by  a  long  string 
of  leather :  his  spectacles,  with  their  case,  tied  to  a  tape  thrown 
round  his  neck,  lay  on  his  breast.'' 

Bowing  his  knee  in  respect,  the  venerable  prisoner  stood 
before  the  judge  to  listen  to  the  indictment,  first  with  his  head 
leaning  on  his  hands,  then  with  his  cap  and  kerchief  off,  to  hear 
the  better,  and  finally  he  sat  down.  When  he  came  to  answer, 
right  manfully  was  it  done,  with  homethrusts  of  telling  argument, 
expressed  in  inimitable  wit  and  grave  humour,  as  striking  as 
any  appearance  in  his  best  days.  He  was  clearly  more  than  a 
match  for  his  judges,  for  he  actually  brought  against  them  with 
confusing  force,  as  a  sample  of  unsound  teaching,  a  book  pub- 
lished by  Brooks  himself,  then  sitting  to  judge  him.  Next  day, 
after  the  condemnation  of  Ridley,  he  was  again  brought  up,  and 
required  to  answer  questions  which  they  knew  must  ensnare 
him.  Like  Ridley,  he  would  not  hear  of  the  bread  and  wine 
being  changed  by  any  words  of  the  priest  into  the  "  corporal 
flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,"  and  for  refusing  to  say  that  they 
were  so,  he  was  condemned  to  die. 

Fifteen  days  later  came  the  ceremony  of  degradation,  in  which 
Bishop  Brooks,  degrading  himself,  was  to  play  the  chief  part. 
Having  once  more  offered  Ridley  his  life  if  he  chose  to  recant. 
Brooks,  on  his  declining,  requested  him  to  put  off  his  cap  and 
put  on  a  surplice,  but  Ridley  stoutly  refused.  The  men  round 
were  then  ordered  to  do  it  by  force,  and  Ridley  submitted,  say- 
ing, that  if  Christ  bore  all  that  was  done  to   Him,  patiently,  it 

'  Bartou's  Life,  I20  ;  see  also  p. 336  of  this  book.       *  Foxe,  vii.  529. 


A-D.  ISS5-]     **  Drunk  with  tfie  Blood  of  the  Saints."  467 

became  His  servants  to  be  like  Him.  They  then  put  on  him 
"  the  surplice  and  all  the  trinkets  appertaining  to  the  mass," 
Ridley  all  the  while  inveighing  vehemently  against  the  Pope 
and  all  that  foolish  apparel,  calling  him  Antichrist,  and  the 
apparel  foolish  and  abominable — too  foolish,  indeed,  for  a  Vice 
in  a  play."  Brooks,  furious  at  such  a  bearing  in  his  victim, 
ordered  him  to  be  silent,  but  Ridley  protested  that  he  would 
denounce  "  their  abominable  doings  "  while  he  had  breath,  and 
was  only  silenced  by  a  threat  of  gagging  him.  When  the  wafer 
was  brought,  he  would  not  touch  it,  and  it  had  to  be  held  in  his 
hands,  till  the  Popish  form  of  degradation  was  ended.  When 
it  was  over,  he  wished  to  speak,  but  was  told  there  could  be  no 
discussion  with  one  cast  out  of  the  Church.  He  then  urged 
that  he  had  a  paper  which  touched  only  worldly  affairs,  and  he 
was  allowed  to  read  it.  It  was  a  petition  to  the  queen  to  restore 
some  leases  to  poor  men  from  whom  Bonner  had  taken  them, 
ruining  the  sufferers  by  doing  so.  Among  other  requests  he 
begged  that  care  might  be  taken  of  his  widowed  sister  and  her 
three  children,  and  it  was  noticed  that  he  wept  as  he  mentioned 
her  name. 

The  next  day  he  and  Latimer  were  burned.  The  stakes  were 
set  up  "  upon  the  north  side  of  the  town,  in  the  ditch  over  against 
Balliol  College,"  where  the  Martyrs'  Memorial  now  stands. 
Provision  had  been  made,  by  the  queen's  letters,  for  armed  force 
to  be  present,  to  hinder  any  attempt  at  rescue,  and  when  every- 
thing was  ready  the  prisoners  were  brought  out  by  the  mayor 
and  bailiffs. 

Ridley,  who  was  now  approaching  sixty,  wore  a  "  fair  black 
gown,  furred,  and  faced  with  foins  " — that  is,  with  marten's  fur — • 
"  such  as  he  was  wont  to  wear  when  a  bishop,  and  a  tippet  of 
velvet,  furred  with  sable,  on  his  neck,  a  velvet  nightcap  on  his 
head,  and  a  square  college-cap  over  it,  with  a  pair  of  slippers 
on  his  feet."  After  him  came  Latimer,  "  a  tall  old  man,  in  a 
poor  Bristol-frieze  frock,  all  worn,  with  his  buttoned  cap,  and 
a  kerchief  on  his  head,  all  ready  for  the  fire  ;  a  new  long  shroud 


468  The  English  Reformation.  [ad.  155$. 

hanging  over  his  hose,  down  to  his  feet,"  for  like  Bernard 
Barton,  he  had  had  his  shroud  prepared  beforehand. 

Cranmer  was  busy  disputing  with  Friar  Soto  as  the  two  passed 
his  prison,  and  so  lost  the  chance  of  a  last  farewell  moment 
with  them — a  moment  that  might  have  nerved  him  for  his  own 
future,  and  kept  him  above  temptation.  Ridley,  looking  back, 
and  seeing  Latimer  coming  after,  greeted  him — "  Oh,  be  ye 
there  ? "  "  Yea,"  said  Latimer,  "  I  have  after  as  fast  as  1  can 
follow."  So,  at  length,  they  both  came  to  the  stake,  "  the  one 
after  the  other,  Ridley  first — his  eyes  presently  lifted,  marvellous 
earnestly  towards  heaven,  holding  up  both  his  hands ;"  then, 
shortly  after,  seeing  Latimer,  he  ran  to  him  "  with  a  wondrous 
cheerful  look,"  embraced  and  kissed  him,  adding — "  Be  of 
good  heart,  brother,  for  God  will  either  assuage  the  fury  of  the 
flame,  or  else  strengthen  us  to  abide  it." 

With  that,  Ridley  went  again  to  the  stake,  kneeled  down  by 
it,  kissed  it,  and  prayed  earnestly ;  Latimer  kneeling  behind  him 
and  praying  by  himself.  A  sermon  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour's 
length  was  then  preached  by  a  Dr.  Smith,  who,  having  written  a 
book  against  the  royal  supremacy  in  Edward's  time,  had  since 
publicly  recanted  all  it  had  said,  but  was  now  a  fiercer  Romanist 
than  ever.  Ridley,  wishing  to  reply,  was  not  allowed,  unless 
he  gave  up  his  "  false  opinions,"  but  he  answered  that  as  long 
as  the  breath  was  in  his  body,  he  would  never  deny  his  Lord 
Christ,  and  His  known  truth.  Latimer  added,  for  his  part,  that 
"  he  could  answer  Master  Smith  well  enough,  if  it  might  be 
suffered,  but  there  was  nothing  hid  but  it  shall  be  opened." 

They  were  now  told  to  make  themselves  ready,  and  obeyed 
with  all  meekness.  Ridley  took  off  his  gown  and  tippet,  and 
gave  them  to  his  brother-in-law,  who  had  lived  in  Oxford  all 
the  time  of  his  imprisonment,  to  provide  him  necessaries,  though 
not  allowed  to  come  near  him.  Other  parts  of  his  dress  he  gave 
to  others,  and  some  parts  were  claimed  by  the  bailiffs.  His 
friends  round  stood,  meanwhile,  "weeping  pitifully,"  and  to 
them,  likewise,  he  gave  some  last  gifts,  such  as  he  had — a  new 


A.D.  I5SS-]     "  Drunk  with  tJie  Blood  of  the  Saints^*  469 

groat  to  one,  a  napkin  to  another,  a  nutmeg  to  a  third,  a  rase 
of  ginger  to  a  fourth.  Some  plucked  the  points  off  his  hose,  so 
eager  were  all  to  get  some  memorial. 

Latimer  gave  away  nothing,  for  he  had  nothing  to  give,  but 
very  quietly  suffered  his  keeper  to  pull  off  his  hose  and  other 
garments,  which  were  very  simple,  "  and,  being  stripped  to  his 
shroud,  seemed  as  comely  a  person  as  one  should  lightly  see  ; 
for  whereas  in  his  clothes  he  appeared  a  withered  and  crooked, 
weak  old  man,  he  now  stood  bolt  upright,  as  comely  a  father 
as  one  might  lightly  behold." 

Having  been  stripped  to  his  shirt,  Ridley  stood  up  on  the 
stone  at  the  stake  and  thanked  God  that  He  had  called  him  to 
profess  His  name  even  unto  death,  and  prayed  that  England 
might  be  delivered  from  all  her  enemies,  and  that  the  Almighty 
would  have  mercy  on  her.  The  two  were  then  bound  to  the 
stake  by  iron  chains  riveted  round  their  waists,  and  a  bag  of 
powder  was  htmg  from  the  neck  of  each.  And  now,  once 
more,  Ridley  pleaded  with  Lord  Williams,  who  superintended 
the  execution,  that  he  would  use  his  interest  for  the  poor  men, 
and  for  his  poor  sister,  for  whom  he  had  already  interceded 
to  the  queen.  Even  in  the  last  moment  his  thoughts  were  on 
others,  for  their  good. 

A  blazing  faggot  was  now  brought  and  laid  at  Ridley's  feet, 
on  seeing  which,  Latimer,  brave  to  the  end,  gave  him  some 
last  parting  words  of  counsel.  "  Be  of  good  comfort.  Master 
Ridley,  and  play  the  man.  We  shall  this  day  light  such  a 
candle,  by  God's  grace,  in  England,  as  I  trust  shall  never  be 
put  out," — Words  to  be  grandly  fulfilled  for  ever  1 

"  And  so  the  fire  being  given  unto  them,  when  Dr.  Ridley 
saw  it  flaming  up  towards  him,  he  cried  with  a  wonderfully  loud 
voice,  in  Latin,  '  Into  thy  hands,  O  Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit : 
O  Lord,  receive  my  spirit,'  and  then  repeated  this  latter  part 
often  in  English,  '  Lord,  Lord,  receive  my  spirit :'  Latimer 
crying  as  vehemently  on  the  other  side,  '  O  Father  of  heaven, 
receive  my  soul.'    He  received  the  flame  as  if  embracing  it. 


470  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1555, 

After  that  he  had  stroked  his  face  with  his  hands,  and  as  it 
were  bathed  them  a  little  in  the  fire,  he  soon  died,  as  it  appeared, 
with  little  pain  or  none." 

But  Ridley  had  a  sore  trial.  The  pile  had  been  badly  made, 
a  heavy  load  of  faggots  smothering  the  gorse  underneath,  which 
should  have  kindled  them.  Feeling  this,  he  desired  them  for 
Christ's  sake  to  let  the  fire  come  to  him,  but  his  brother-in-law, 
misunderstanding  him,  threw  on  still  more  faggots,  to  rid  him 
of  his  pain.  This,  however,  only  made  the  fire  more  vehement 
beneath,  and  burned  his  limbs  before  his  body  was  even  touched, 
so  that  he  leaped  up  and  down,  entreating  them  to  let  the  fire 
rise  on  him,  and  crying  out  that  "  he  could  not  burn."  Yet  in 
all  his  torment  he  still  called  upon  God;  the  prayer,  "Lord, 
have  mercy  upon  me,"  intermingling  with  his  cry  for  speedier 
death.  At  last  one  of  the  bystanders,  with  his  bill,  pulled  off 
the  faggots  above,  and  then,  when  the  martyr  saw  the  fire 
flame  up,  he  wrested  himself  to  that  side.  And  when  the 
flames  touched  the  powder  he  was  seen  to  stir  no  more,  but 
burned  on  the  other  side,  falling  down  at  Latimer's  feet. 

Thus  died  these  two  famous  witnesses  for  Christ.  Nor  was 
their  faithfulness  without  reward  either  then  or  since.  As  the 
news  spread  far  and  wide  over  England,  with  all  the  story  of 
their  manly  bearing  and  bitter  end,  there  rose  in  the  great  heart 
of  the  people  a  bitter  hatred  of  that  system  which  had  slain  such 
men,  in  such  a  way,  in  the  name  of  religion. 

'  Meanwhile,  the  prisons  were  full  of  Protestants.  The  Lollards' 
tower  under  the  clock  of  the  present  St.  Paul's,  Bonner's  coal- 
house,  and  the  prisons  of  the  Legate  Pole,  at  Canterbury,  were 
the  scene  of  unspeakable  horrors,  compared  with  which  the 
stake  was  merciful.  Men  and  women,  guilty  of  no  crime  but 
that  they  refused  to  believe  that  the  wafer  was  turned  into  God 
by  a  few  words  of  a  man  like  Bonner,  or  that  the  Church  which 
burned  the  saints  was  the  only  true  Church,  were  beaten,  bound 
in  irons,  starved  to  death  in  foul  dungeons,  or  left  with  no 
covering  but  their  own  clothes  and  no  bed  but  rotten  straw,  in 


AD.  1555.]     ^^  Drunk  with  the  Blood  of  the  Saints**  471 

cold,  darkness,  and  misery,  through  the  wild  winter  months. 
Bonner,  above  all  men,  was  associated  with  these  hideous 
cruelties.  "  Every  child  can  call  you  by  name,"  wrote  a  lady 
to  him,  "and  say,  'Bloody  Bonner  is  Bishop  of  London.'"  His 
doings  were  repeated  on  every  tongue,  and  everywhere  turned 
men  against  Rome. 

Gardiner  had  been  very  impatient  to  have  the  bishops  burned, 
and  delayed  his  dinner,  on  the  day  it  was  to  be  done,  till 
the  news  should  be  brought  him  that  the  fire  was  kindled.' 
Presently,  however,  he  fell  ill,  and  after  lingering  for  less  than  a 
month  died  on  the  1 3th  of  November.  In  him  Mary  lost  her 
ablest  counsellor,  but  the  Reformation  its  most  cunning  and 
relentless  enemy.  Himself  base-bom,  he  had  fiercely  denounced 
marriage  in  priests,  while  he  was  privately  living  unchastely 
revengeful,  treacherous,  and  without  pity,  he  could  dissimulate 
till  the  time  came  to  strike :  resolute  to  carry  his  end,  he  could 
keep  it  before  him  and  work  towards  it  even  when  outwardly 
giving  way. 

Meanwhile  Parliament  had  met,  but  rather  to  thwart  Mary  in 
some  of  her  cherished  projects  than  to  advance  them,  and  thus 
she  was  thrown  more  than  ever  on  her  own  efforts  to  further  the 
great  aim  of  restoring  Popery,  to  which  all  her  desires  tended. 
She  began,  at  her  own  cost,  to  rebuild  some  of  the  religious 
houses,  and  familiarized  Englishmen  once  more  with  the  hated 
sight  of  monks  and  friars.  Soured  in  spirit,  she  gave  way  con- 
tinually to  ever  fiercer  outbursts  of  passion,  and  unfortunately 
she  could  indulge  these  without  check,  at  the  cost  of  the  Pro- 
testants. 

Cranmer  had  been  kept  in  prison  during  the  lime  in  which  it 
was  required  of  him  to  appear  in  Rome,  and  had  appealed  to 
Mary  to  let  him  die  by  the  sentence  of  an  English  court, 
without  humbling  his  country  by  asking  that  of  a  foreign  power. 
His  object  had  been  to  be  burned  with  Latimer  and  Ridley, 

•  Burnet,  338. 


472  TJie  English  Reformation.  ia.d,  1556. 

that  their  company  might  strengthen  his  faith.  But  a  subtle 
plot  was  on  foot.  Gentle  and  yielding  by  nature,  it  was  hoped 
that  he  might  perhaps  be  induced,  after  all,  to  recant,  for  the 
humiliation  of  the  head  of  the  Reformation  would  be  a  wondrous 
triumph  for  Popery.  A  Spanish  friar  was  therefore  set  on  him, 
to  weary  him  out  by  perpetual  worrying,  and  to  break  down  his 
firmness  by  long-protracted  waiting  for  his  fate.  In  December, 
the  Pope,  after  holding  a  mock  trial  at  Rome,  confirmed  the 
sentence  of  the  Oxford  court,  and  in  February  Bonner  and 
another  appeared  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  to  degrade  him. 
An  appeal  which  he  made  to  a  General  Council  was  disregarded, 
but  his  making  it  seemed  to  show  that,  at  last,  he  was  anxious 
once  more  for  life.  Led  back  to  the  pleasant  house  of  the 
Dean  of  Christ  Church,  instead  of  to  prison,  he  was  once 
more  plied  with  temptations  to  yield.  His  treatment  was  rather 
that  of  a  guest  than  a  prisoner,  for  he  had  every  possible  indul- 
gence, and  every  mark  of  real  or  pretended  regard.  All  around 
pressed  him  to  give  way,  the  legate  himself  sending  him  a  long 
letter  urging  it  with  all  the  persuasions  of  rhetoric.  He  had 
refused  to  flee  when  flight  was  open  to  him,  and  had  ventured 
his  Ufe  daily  for  many  years  for  the  truth  :  but  the  arts  used  so 
skilfully  to  make  him  waver,  the  doubts  if  he  were  right  after 
all,  so  natural  in  a  soft  and  modest  nature,  and  the  thought 
that  some  equivocal  form  of  words  might  at  once  save  his 
honour  and  give  him  back  his  Hfe,  led  him  in  the  end  to  write  a 
few  lines  saying,  that,  as  the  king  and  queen,  by  consent  of 
Parliament,  had  received  the  Pope's  authority  within  the  realm, 
he  was  content  to  submit  himself  to  their  laws,  and  to  take  the 
Pope  for  the  chief  head  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  far  as 
God's  laws  and  the  customs  of  the  realm  would  permit.  A 
document  like  this  was  of  no  value  as  a  recantation,  but  such  as 
it  was,  it  was  instantly  sent  to  the  queen.  Five  other  papers 
were  subsequently  published  by  Bonner  as  additional  submissions 
volunteered  by  him,  or  extorted  from  him,  but  Thomas 
Sampson,  a  clergyman,  one  of  the  Marian  exiles,  speaks  of  a 


*j).  I556-]     "  Drunk  with  tJie  Blood  of  the  Saints."  473 

"  certain  absurd  recantation,  forged  by  the  Papists,  which 
began  to  be  spread  abroad  during  Cranmer's  life-time,  as  if  he 
had  made  it :  but  the  authors  of  it  themselves  recalled  it  while 
he  was  yet  Hving,  and  he  firmly  and  vehemently  denied  it."^ 
The  continuator  of  "  Fabian's  Chronicles,"  moreover,  speaking 
of  the  burning  of  the  archbishop  says,  "  after  he  had  recanted 
his  supposed  recantation."  The  truth  seems  to  be^  that  while 
Cranmer  signed  the  first  equivocal  and  illusory  acknowledgment 
of  the  Pope  which  avowed  all  his  old  principles,  even  in  seeming 
to  waive  them,  the  other  papers,  purporting  to  be  further  sub- 
missions, were  fabricated  by  Bonner's  directions. 

A  month  more  was  let  pass,  during  which  these  pretended 
recantations  were  diligently  circulated.  If  genuine,  they  fully 
entitled  him  to  his  life;  but  on  the  21st  of  March  he  was  sud- 
denly brought  out  to  die.  It  was  so  wild  a  morning  that  the 
sermon  usual  at  burnings  could  not  be  preached  at  the  stake, 
and  was  therefore  delivered  in  St.  Mary's  Church.  To  bum  a 
man  after  his  having,  as  was  alleged,  recanted,  was,  on  the  face 
of  it,  a  monstrous  cruelty  and  injustice,  and  had  to  be  excused 
as  it  best  might.  While  the  preacher  tried  thus  to  palliate  the 
crime  he  was  set  to  defend,  Cranmer  stood  with  "  his  face  wet 
with  tears,  an  image  of  sorrow,  retaining  ever  a  quiet  and 
grave  behaviour,  which  increased  the  pity  in  men's  hearts." 

It  was  now  hoped  that  he  would  seal  his  weakness  by  some 
further  public  statement,  and  he  was  therefore  allowed  to  speak, 
but,  to  the  horror  of  the  Romanists  in  his  audience,  he  repu- 
diated with  the  greatest  earnestness  any  apparent  concessions 
he  had  made,  declaring  that  "  forasmuch  as  his  hand  offended, 
in  writing  contrary  to  his  heart,  it  should  be  first  punished,  for 
if  he  could  reach  the  fire,  it  should  be  first  burned."  "  As  for 
the  Pope,"  he  went  on,  "I  utterly  refuse  him,  as  Christ's  enemy 
and  Antichrist,  with  all  his  false  doctrine ;  and  as  for  the  sacra- 

»  Orig.  Letters,  173  ;  date,  April  6,  1556,  a  fortnight  after  Cranmer- 
was  burned. 
*  Southey's  Book  of  the  Church,  348. 


474  1^^^  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1556. 

ments,  I  believe  as  I  have  taught  in  my  book  against  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester."  He  would  have  gone  on,  but  cries  rose  on  all 
sides,  "  Pull  him  down,"  "  Stop  his  mouth,"  "  Away  with  him," 
and  he  was  hurried  out  of  the  church  to  the  stake,  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  off,  where  Latimer  and  Ridley  had  suffered. 

The  wood  was  skilfully  laid  and  was  dry,  and,  once  kindled, 
presently  blazed  strongly.  As  the  flames  rose,  Cranmer 
stretched  forth  his  right  hand,  calling  out,  "This  was  the  hand 
that  wrote  it,  therefore  it  shall  first  suffer" — and  so  saying,  he 
held  it  steadily  in  the  fire,  "  and  never  stirred  nor  cried."  A 
short  time  more,  and  the  flames  had  left  him  a  blackened 
corpse.  So  died  Thomas  Cranmer,  tempted  for  a  moment, 
like  Peter,  to  waver,  but  like  him  in  his  repentance  as  well  as 
his  weakness.  His  life  is  his  best  memorial.  It  speaks, 
through  long  years,  of  his  gentleness,  his  readiness  to  forgive, 
his  meekness,  his  bounty,  his  zeal,  his  large-minded  liberality 
of  thought,  and  his  splendid  services  to  evangelical  religion. 
The  English  Bible,  the  Articles,  and  the  Prayer-book  are  his 
imperishable  monument. 

Cranmer's  death,  so  evidently  a  matter  of  personal  revenge 
on  the  part  of  Mary,  for  her  mother's  sake,  proved  as  fruitless 
as  all  before  it,  to  frighten  England  from  heresy.  A  wide- 
spread conspiracy  was  presently  formed  to  dethrone  the  queen, 
and  set  EHzabeth  in  her  place,  but  it  was  discovered  and 
quenched  in  blood.  Men  had  come  universally  to  believe  that 
Philip  was  about  to  land  an  army  from  Flanders,  to  crush 
English  liberty,  and  the  old  hatred  of  the  Spanish  marriage, 
which  had  led  to  Wyatt's  rebellion,  became  a  deepening  passion 
with  the  nation  as  the  queen  showed  herself  more  and  more  a 
slave  of  the  priests.  The  popular  hatred  of  her  had,  indeed, 
risen  to  such  a  pitch  that  she  dared  not  show  herself  in  public. 
Deserted  by  her  husband,  she  had  virtually  resigned  the  govern- 
ment to  Pole  and  a  few  Popish  fanatics,  survivors  of  her 
mother's  household. 

Insane  with  religious  bigotry,  and  embittered  by  her  terrible 


I 


A.D.  1556.]     "  Drunk  with  the  Blood  of  the  Saints'*  475 

disappointment  respecting  a  child ;  a  widow  while  married ; 
sinking  under  painful  disease,  and  conscious  of  universal  hatred, 
Mary  grew  daily  more  wild  in  her  bursts  of  passion,  and  more 
ferocious  towards  Protestants.  The  plot  against  her  life  re- 
acted against  them.  In  January,  five  men  and  two  women 
were  burnt  at  one  stake  in  Smithfield,  and  one  man  and  four 
women  at  Canterbury.  In  March,  two  women  were  burnt  at 
Ipswich,  and  three  men  at  Salisbury.  In  April,  six  men  were 
burnt  at  Smithfield ;  a  man  and  a  woman  at  Rochester,  and 
another  at  Canterbury.  Six,  sent  to  Bonner  from  Colchester, 
were  allowed  only  till  afternoon  to  say  they  would  recant,  and 
were  then  condemned,  and  sent  back  to  Colchester  and  burnt. 
A  blind  man  and  an  aged  cripple  were  burnt  in  the  same  fire  at 
Stratford.  In  May,  three  women  were  burnt  in  Smithfield,  and 
two  at  Gloucester  the  day  after,  one  of  them  being  blind. 
Three  were  burnt  at  Beccles,  in  Suffolk ;  five  at  Lewes,  and  one 
at  Leicester.  In  June,  Bonner's  ferocity  outdid  all  his  former 
wickedness,  for  on  the  27th  he  burnt  eleven  men  and  two 
women  in  one  fire,  at  Stratford,  in  the  presence  of  twenty  thou- 
sand people.  Nor  was  this  reckless  cruelty  confined  to  England. 
Attempts  were  made  even  in  Antwerp  to  seize  some  of  the 
exiles  who  had  fied  thither,  and  in  Guernsey  a  mother  and  her 
two  daughters  were  burnt  at  the  same  stake.  One  of  the 
latter,  a  married  woman,  in  the  agony  of  the  flames,  was 
delivered  of  a  son.  A  stander-by  forthwith  snatched  it  from 
the  fire,  but  it  was  taken  from  him  and  thrown  back  again  into 
the  flames.  Nor  is  there  any  doubt  of  this,  for  the  matter  was 
afterwards  inquired  into  under  Elizabeth.  Sixty-seven  had  been 
burned  in  1555,  of  whom  four  were  bishops,  and  thirteen 
priests:  in  1556  eighty- five,  without  regard  to  age  or  sex,  or 
even  physical  infirmities.  No  wonder  the  Reformation  once 
more  took  wide  root.  The  blind  savagery  of  the  government 
was  in  fact  making  the  whole  nation  Protestant.  For  one 
cause  or  other  sixty  men  were  sentenced,  in  the  autumn,  at 
Oxford,  to  be  hanged  together,  and  rows  of  gibbets  Uned  the 


476  The  English  Reformation,         [a.d.  1556, 1557. 

Thames,  with  bodies  swinging  from  them  in  the  wind.  In 
August,  twenty-three  men  and  women  were  brought  from 
Colchester  to  London,  tied  together  with  ropes,  to  be  con- 
demned and  burnt,  but  the  people  cheered  them  so  as  they 
passed  through  the  streets  that  Bonner  was  afraid  to  sentence 
them,  and  they  were  allowed  for  the  time  to  escape. 

Meanwhile  the  Pope  had  leagued  himself  with  France,  to 
drive  the  Spaniards  out  of  Naples,  and  thus  Philip,  to  Mary's 
horror  and  his  own,  found  himself  at  war  with  the  Holy  Father. 
But  Alva  speedily  repelled  the  invasion,  and  Philip  humbly 
suing  for  absolution  after  his  victory,  of  course  obtained  it.  By 
the  end  of  the  year  famine,  caused  by  the  bad  harvest,  was 
driving  London  to  madness.  The  poor  were  glad  to  feed  on 
acorns,  and  infants  were  left  at  the  doors  of  the  rich,  to  save 
them  from  starvation.  To  Pole  these  calamities  seemed  only 
another  proof  of  the  anger  of  God,  for  the  lenity  with  which 
Protestantism  had  been  treated.  With  the  begirming  of  1557 
a  new  commission  was  given  to  Bonner  and  twenty  others  to 
hunt  down  heretics  more  vigorously.  The  laws  were  suspended, 
and  any  one  might  be  arrested  at  the  will  of  the  commissioners, 
of  whom  three  were  to  be  a  quorum.  Sellers  of  heretical  books 
and  all  suspected  of  heresy,  even  on  such  negative  evidence  as 
their  neglecting  the  confessional,  abstaining  from  mass,  or  from 
walking  in  priestly  processions,  or  from  using  holy  water,  were 
left  at  the  mercy  of  the  new  inquisitors.  If  Philip  and  Spain 
still  left  England  the  show  of  self-government,  they  had  at  least 
succeeded  in  setting  up  in  her  the  worst  of  all  Spanish  institu- 
tions— the  Ploly  Office  of  Torquemada. 

Pole  had  been  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  the  day 
after  Cranmer  was  burnt,  amidst  bitter  applications  of  Elijah's 
words  to  Ahab — "Thou  hast  killed  and  taken  possession."^  Mary 
and  he  had  now  all  power  between  them.  Every  allusion  to  the 
sins  of  monkish  orders,  in  the  reports  and  other  documents  of 

^  Bumei,  347. 


A.D.  ISS7]      " Drimk  with  the  Blood  of  the  Saints"  477 

Henry's  days,  was  ordered  to  be  destroyed :  new  monasteries 
multiplied,  and  courtiers  began  to  seek  favour  by  founding 
chantries,  for  masses  to  be  said  for  their  own  souls  and  those  of 
their  ancestors.  A  rigorous  visitation  was  ordered  in  the 
diocese  of  Canterbury,  in  which  the  clergy  were  required  to 
report  the  opinions  and  life  of  every  parishioner  of  either  sex. 
Even  the  dead  were  no  longer  respected.  Commissioners  were 
sent  to  Cambridge  to  purge  the  university  from  the  taint  of 
Protestants  having  been  buried  in  its  precincts.  Bucer'  and 
Fagius,*  two  Continental  Reformers,  had  come  to  England  in 
1549,  on  Cranmer's  invitation,  and  after  being  his  guests  and 
counsellors  at  Lambeth,  had  been  appointed  to  chairs  in 
Cambridge,  Bucer  as  the  professor  of  theology,  Fagius  as  that  of 
Hebrew.  Bucer  had  died,  worn  out  by  his  trials  and  labours, 
in  1551  ;  Fagius  had  preceded  him  to  his  reward  in  1549,  six 
months  after  his  arrival  in  England.  They  had  each  been 
buried  in  one  of  the  university  chapels,  and  this  was  now  held 
to  pollute  the  whole  place.  Both  chapels  were  put  under  an 
interdict.  The  two  dead  men  were  taken  from  their  graves  and 
cited  to  appear  before  the  visitors.  But  as  they  continued 
silent  and  no  one  ventured  to  appear  to  defend  them,  they  were 
duly  condemned  as  obstinate  heretics,  and  their  bodies  burned 
along  with  a  heap  of  Prayer-books,  Bibles,  Primers,  and  other 
Protestant  books  which  had,  meanwhile,  been  gathered  from  the 
various  colleges. 

From  Cambridge  the  visitors — ^three  bishops  and  a  Venetian 
friend  of  Pole — passed  on  to  Oxford,  where  the  wife  of  Peter  Martyr 
had  been  buried  in  the  cathedral.  But  as  she  had  never  spoken 
English,  and  had  lived  a  retired  and  blameless  life,  it  was  hard  to 
establish  her  heresy.  She  had,  however,  once  been  a  nun,  and  had 
afterwards  married  a  Protestant,  and  for  this  Pole  ordered  her  body 
to  be  taken  up  and  cast  out  of  holy  ground,  especially  as  she  was 
buried  near  the  holy  virgin  St.  Frideswida.    The  mouldering 

'  Burn  m  Alsace  in  1491.  *'  liorn  in  the  Falatiuate,  in  1504. 


4/8  The  English  Reformation.  Ta.d.  1557* 

corpse  was  therefore  exhumed,  and  thrust  into  a  cesspool.  But 
time  brings  its  revenges,  for  Elizabeth  afterwards  ordered  it  to 
be  raised  again  and  decently  buried,  and  with  it  w'ere  interred 
the  remains  of  the  saint  she  had  defiled  by  her  presence  I 

The  persecution  raged,  under  such  auspices,  with  redoubled 
fury,  through  the  spring  and  summer  of  1557.  In  January, 
six  were  burned  in  one  fire  at  Canterbury,  and  four  in  other 
parts  of  Kent.  In  April,  three  men  and  a  woman  were  burnt  in 
Smithfield.  In  May,  three  were  burnt  in  Southwark,  and  three 
at  Bristol.  Five  men  and  nine  women  were  burnt  in  Kent,  in 
June,  and  in  the  same  month,  six  men  and  four  women  were 
burnt  at  Lewes.  In  July,  two  were  burnt  at  Norwich,  and  in 
August,  ten  were  burnt  in  one  day  at  Colchester — part  of  the 
twenty-two  led,  some  time  before,  through  London  streets,  tied 
to  one  long  rope,  but  let  go  then  for  fear  of  the  people.  In 
August,  also,  one  was  burnt  at  Norwich,  two  at  Rochester,  and 
one  at  Lichfield.  But  even  this  wholesale  slaughter  did  not 
satisfy  the  priests.  They  complained  that  the  magistrates 
"were  backward,  and  did  their  work  negligently."  The 
queen's  Council,  therefore,  sent  out  fresh  letters,  urging  the  towns 
to  choose  more  zealous  men  as  mayors,  that  Protestantism 
might  be  finally  stamped  out.  In  September,  three  men  and 
a  woman  were  burnt  at  Islington,  and  two  at  Colchester ;  one  at 
Northampton,  and  one  at  Laxfield.  At  Norwich,  another 
woman  was  burnt,  and  Chichester  had  a  grand  Auto  da  Fe  of 
fourteen  men  and  three  women,  one  of  the  men  being  a  Protestant 
clergyman.  In  November,  three  men  were  burnt  at  Smithfield, 
and  a  clergyman  and  a  woman  from  Islington  closed  the  holo- 
caust of  the  year  in  the  same  place.  Seventy-nine  English  men 
and  women,  in  all,  were  burned  ahve  in  1557. 

A  fresh  trouble  had  come  on  Mary  and  Pole  together,  in 
these  last  months.  Philip  had  urged  the  queen  to  get  England 
engaged  on  his  side  in  his  war  with  France,  then  the  ally  of  the 
Pope,  and  this  had  so  infuriated  his  Holiness  that  he  cancelled 
Pole's  commission  as  legate,  and  appointed  Peto,  the  Greenwich 


AJ).  I5S8.]     "  Drunk  with  the  Blood  of  the  Saints!^  479 

friar  of  Henry's  day,  in  his  place.  Mary,  however,  was  not  to 
be  treated  thus  lightly.  She  forbade  Peto  to  land  in  England, 
and  wrote  to  the  Pope  for  a  reconsideration  of  the  whole 
question.  But  Paul — a  peevish,  spiteful  old  man — would  not 
relent,  and  made  matters  worse  by  hinting  that  Pole's  opinions 
were  not  above  suspicion.  He  who  had  spent  his  life  in  treason 
against  his  country  for  the  sake  of  the  Church,  was  disgraced  as, 
after  all,  hardly  himself  sound !  The  death  of  the  martyrs 
could  not  have  been  more  bitterly  avenged ! 

The  war  with  France  had  been  marked,  in  1557,  by  the 
victory  of  St.  Quentin,  but  1558  was  clouded  by  what  seemed 
then  the  extremity  of  national  disgrace — the  loss  of  Calais  in 
the  first  week  of  the  year.  It  had  been  in  the  hands  of  England 
since  1347 — in  the  days  of  Edward  III. — that  is,  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years,  and  was  the  last  memorial  of  the 
French  conquests  of  past  glorious  days.  The  mortification  of 
the  whole  country  was  intense.  It  seemed  as  if  nothing  but 
the  priests  throve  under  Mary.  The  country  was  defenceless  : 
there  was  no  money  in  the  exchequer,  and  the  captors  of  Calais 
might  very  probably  invade  England  presently. 

Parliament,  which  met  on  the  20th  of  January,  had  a  gloomy 
task  before  it.  Subsidies  of  extraordinary  amount  were  needed 
to  put  the  land  in  a  state  of  defence,  and  the  levies  had  to  be 
called  out  through  England,  to  guard  against  expected  invasion. 
So  excited  was  public  feeling,  that  every  able-bodied  man,  of 
any  rank,  between  sixteen  and  sixty,  was  to  be  ready,  on  pain  of 
death,  to  take  arms  when  summoned. 

The  session  closed  on  the  7th  of  March,  and  the  burnings, 
which  had  been  suspended  during  its  continuance,  lest  the 
bishops  might  be  called  to  account  for  their  cruelty,  once  more 
began.  Cuthbert  Simpson,  a  Protestant  preacher  in  deacon's 
orders,  was  the  first  to  suffer.  He  had  been  taken  at  a  meeting 
for  worship  in  Islington,  and  was  put  on  the  rack,  but  no 
severity  could  extort  from  him  the  names  of  his  friends,  and  he 
was  therefore  burnt  in  March,  at  Smithfield,  with  two  others. 


480  The  English  Reformation.  [a-d.  1558. 

In  April,  one  was  burnt  at  Hereford,  and  in  May,  three  were 
burnt  at  Colchester.  Stung  by  the  insinuations  of  the  Pope, 
Pole  issued  a  new  commission  to  clear  his  diocese  of  heresy. 

The  priests  boasted  that  only  another  year  was  needed  to 
purify  England,  but  never  were  men  more  misled  by  their 
wishes.  Sullen  despondency  and  discontent  spread  far  and 
wide.  Even  the  fear  of  a  French  invasion  failed  to  kindle  en- 
thusiasm. In  Devonshire,  the  musters  disbanded  themselves ; 
in  Lincolnshire  they  mutinied.  The  exiles  in  Germany,  roused 
by  the  news  of  the  terrible  sufferings  of  their  brethren  in  England, 
openly  urged  insurrection  to  end  such  a  tyranny.  John  Knox, 
then  at  Geneva,  published  his  "  First  Blast  against  the  Monstrous 
Regiment,  or  Rule,  of  Women."  Other  books,  similarly  bold, 
were  also  issued.  To  be  dared  thus,  touched  Mary  to  the 
quick,  and  roused  the  worst  characteristics  of  her  Tudor  blood. 
Thrusting  aside  all  law,  she  issued  a  proclamation  "  that  if  any 
one  received  any  of  these  books,  and  did  not  presently  bum  them, 
without  either  reading  them,  or  showing  them  to  any  person, 
they  were  to  be  executed  immediately  by  martial  law." 

But,  in  spite  of  all  the  burnings  and  threats,  nothing  could 
bend  the  firm  spirit  of  the  victims,  and,  what  was  worse,  the 
people  continued  to  cheer  them  on  their  way  to  execution.  To 
put  an  end  to  this,  if  possible,  a  proclamation  was  sent  out  for- 
bidding any  one  to  approach,  touch,  or  speak  to  them,  or  even 
to  pray  for  them,  as  if  the  tyranny  of  Rome  could  hope  to  come 
between  men  and  their  secret  cries  to  their  God  in  this  hour  of 
darkness.  But  the  English  spirit  was  roused,  and  returned  a 
bitter  defiance  to  Mary's  menaces.  A  congregation  of  Pro- 
testants had  been  surprised  at  a  prayer-meeting,  in  a  field  near 
London,  by  the  government  spies,  who  filled  the  whole  country. 
Thirteen  were  taken  before  Bonner,  and  of  these  seven  were 
burnt  together  in  Smithfield  in  the  end  of  June,  the  people 
crowding  round  the  stake  and  vying  in  every  demonstration  of 
sympathy  and  encouragement  to  the  sufferers.  Bonner,  terrified 
at  the  spirit  thus  shown,  could  not  venture  to  burn  the  other  six 


AJt.  1558]      "  Drunk  with  t/te  Blood  of  tlie  Saints^         48 1 

in  London,  but,  to  prevent  their  escaping,  he  tried  them  at  his 
palace  at  Fulham,  and  burnt  them  at  Brentford  in  the  dead  of 
night.  A  Protestant  minister  also  was  burnt  at  Nor^vich  in 
July.  In  August  the  flames  received  twelve  victims,  at  Win- 
chester, St.  Edmundsbury,  and  Ipswich.  Pardon  had  hitherto 
been  offered,  in  every  case  except  Cranmer's,  if  the  victim  re- 
canted at  the  stake,  but  even  this  spark  of  humanity  was  now 
forbidden,  for  the  sheriff  having  extinguished  the  fire  at  a 
burning  at  Winchester,  when  the  victim  screamed  out  that  he 
recanted,  orders  came  from  the  Council  to  burn  the  unfortunate 
creature  at  once,  and  the  sheriff  was  thrown  into  prison  for  his 
presumption.  "  The  queen's  majesty,"  said  the  letter  of 
Council,  "  could  not  find  it  but  very  strange  that  he  had  saved 
from  punishment  a  man  condemned  for  heresy  :  the  execution 
was  to  proceed  out  of  hand." 

The  loth  of  November  saw  the  last  fires  of  this  terrible  time 
lighted  at  Canterbury,  to  burn  three  men  and  two  women,  whom 
Pole  himself  had  condemned.  Mary  was  now  within  a  few 
days  of  her  end.  On  the  i6th,  at  midnight,  she  received 
extreme  unction,  and,  as  she  was  evidently  sinking,  mass  was 
said  at  her  bedside.  Unable  to  speak  or  move,  her  eyes 
remained  fixed  on  the  Host  as  the  priest  raised  it  for  her  adora- 
tion, and  presently  her  head  sank,  and  she  was  dead. 

The  number  burnt  in  the  three  years  of  the  persecution  had 
not  been  far  from  300,  at  the  lowest  reckoning.  Great  numbers 
besides  had  been  thrown  into  prison,  where  not  fewer  than  sixty 
had  died  of  hunger,  cold,  and  cruel  treatment.  The  whip  and 
the  rack  had  been  freely  used,  till  the  country  was  outraged  by 
the  stories  that  spread  far  and  wide.  To  this  fanaticism,  how- 
ever, on  the  part  of  Mary  and  her  adviseis,  we  owe  the  revival 
of  Protestantism  as  the  fixed  creed  of  England.  Its  good  name 
had  been  soiled  by  the  abuses  of  Edward's  time,  when  greedy 
politicians  used  it  to  further  their  plundering  the  Church,  to  the 
uttermost,  for  their  own  advantage.  Had  Mary  taken  a  mode- 
rate course,  she  might  have  re-established  Romanism  as  the 


482  The  English  Reformation.  [a  d.  1553. 

national  faith,  and  put  back  the  Reformation  no  one  can  tell 
how  long.  But  her  Spanish  marriage  and  the  un-English 
bloodthirstiness  she  sanctioned  in  her  advisers,  and  showed  in 
her  own  temper,  threw  a  halo  round  the  cause  for  which  men 
died  so  bravely,  and  revealed  unmistakably  the  true  nature  of 
the  corrupt  system  which  hunted  them  to  death. 

Nor  was  there  wanting  a  characteristic  in  the  persecution 
which  secured  its  being  wholly  ineffectual.  Except  in  the 
cases  of  the  bishops,  the  sufferers  were  taken  only  from  the 
humbler  ranks,  though  it  was  notorious  that  there  were  Pro- 
testants in  the  queen's  own  guard,  and  in  every  gjade  of  the 
nobility.  With  these,  however,  Mary  was  afraid  to  meddle. 
Women  and  children,  the  workman  from  his  bench  and  the 
peasant  from  the  field,  the  blind,  the  lame,  and  the  helpless,  had 
been  her  victims,  while  the  powerful  remained,  to  effect  a  revo- 
lution as  soon  as  Elizabeth  mounted  the  throne.  She  had 
spared  those  who  were  sure  to  reverse  her  policy  the  instant  she 
was  gone. 

No  one  had  ever  a  fairer  opportunity  of  being  beloved  by  the 
nation,  and  no  one  ever  made  their  name  more  loathed.  Her 
mother's  story,  her  own  treatment  by  Northumberland,  and  the 
very  fact  that  she  was  the  first  English  queen,  had  been  in  her 
favour,  but  in  a  reign  of  little  more  than  five  years  she  had  made 
herself  the  object  of  national  execration.  Well  educated, 
rigidly  honest,  simple  in  her  tastes,  and  pure  in  her  life,  she 
ruined  all,  and  made  herself  an  everlasting  abhorrence  to 
England,  by  the  one  fact  that  she  was  an  abject  slave  of  the 
priests. 

By  a  strange  coincidence  in  their  fate  Pole  died  at  Lambeth 
a  few  hours  after  Mary. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

"THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMED  FAITH"  ESTABLISHED. 

THE  accession  of  Elizabeth,  on  the  17th  November,  1558^ 
filled  the  whole  nation  with  such  joy  that,  even  a  genera- 
tion later,  it  was  cherished  as  "  a  day  shining  graciously  to 
many  poor  prisoners,  who  long  had  been  wearied  in  cold,  and 
heavy  irons,  and  had  been  bound  in  the  shadow  of  death  ;  unto 
whom  she  came  as  welcome  as  the  sweet  shower  cometh  to  the 
thirsty  land,  and  as  the  dove  that  brought  the  laurel-leaf  in  her 
mouth  came  to  faithful  Noah  and  his  family,  after  they  had  been 
long  tossed  in  the  miraculous  deluge."^  The  loss  of  Calais,  the 
wholesale  burning  of  men,  women,  and  children  over  the  land, 
the  miserable  state  of  the  country,  with  its  empty  treasury,  its 
debased  coinage,  its  decayed  defences,  and  its  general  distress, 
united  all  parties  to  welcome  the  new  reign.  Mary  had  died 
just  before  daylight  on  the  late  November  morning,  but  by 
eight  the  chancellor.  Archbishop  Heath,  was  at  the  bar  of  the 
Lords,  to  tell  the  two  Houses  that  the  Princess  Elizabeth  was 
queen.  Parliament,  of  course,  stood  necessarily  dissolved  by 
the  announcement,  and  forthwith  the  heralds,  attending  a  com- 
mission of  the  Lords,  were  on  their  way  through  the  London 
streets,  proclaiming  the  new  sovereign.  All  day  long  the 
steeples  rang  their  merriest,  and  at  night  the  sky  was  red  with 

<  Harsnet's  Sermon  un  the  anniversary  of  the  Accession,  1601. 


484  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1558. 

bonfires.  Men  felt  that  England  was  once  more  free  from  the 
dark  arts  and  tyranny  of  Rome. 

Yet  the  position  of  the  new  queen  was  grave  in  the  extreme. 
As  put  in  a  document  of  the  time,  "  She  herself  was  poor ;  the 
realm  exhausted;  the  nobility  poor  and  decayed;  good  cap- 
tains and  soldiers  wanting;  the  people  out  of  order;  justice  not 
executed ;  all  things  dear ;  excesses  in  meat,  diet,  and  ap- 
parel ;  division  among  ourselves ;  war  with  France ;  the 
French  king  bestriding  the  realm,  having  one  foot  in  Calais  and 
the  other  in  Scotland" — by  the  marriage  of  the  young  Queen 
Mary  to  the  Dauphin ; — "  steadfast  enemies,  but  no  steadfast 
friends." 

The  "  division  among  ourselves  "  was,  indeed,  the  worst  in 
this  catalogue  of  evils,  for  it  was  religious,  and  as  such  touched 
the  deepest  passions  of  men.  At  least  two-thirds  of  the  nation 
still  nominally  belonged  to  the  old  faith,  from  habit,  or  choice, 
or  from  mere  English  aversion  to  change.  The  Protestants 
were  found  chiefly  in  the  large  towns  and  cities,  though  the 
burnings  under  IMary  had  shown  that  the  peasants  also,  in  some 
shires,  were  largely  touched  by  the  New  Doctrine.  But  though 
Protestantism  was  thus  in  the  minority,  the  future  of  England 
inevitably  belonged  to  it,  for  it  meant  freedom  as  opposed  to 
slavish  submission ;  the  independence  of  the  intellect  and  con- 
science, as  opposed  to  the  rule  of  a  ghostly  despotism  over  both. 
However  men  might  differ  on  doctrinal  details,  they  were  every- 
where at  one  in  their  hatred  of  the  reign  of  priests.  The 
iniquities  of  the  bishops'  courts  as  revived  under  Mary ;  the 
monstrous  claims  of  the  priesthood  over  the  conscience  ;  their 
thirst  for  wealth,  power,  and  class  privileges,  and  their  keenness 
to  shed  blood,  had  turned  England  for  ever  from  the  system  to 
which  they  belonged. 

There  was,  in  fact,  an  irreconcilable  opposition  between 
Romanism  and  Protestantism  of  every  shade.  The  Romanist 
believed  in  the  authority  of  the  Church ;  the  Protestant  in  the 
right  of  private  judgment :  the  one  yielded  his  conscience  abso- 


A.D.  1558.]  TJie  Protestant  Faith  EstablisJied.  485 

lutely  to  the  priest,  the  other  subordinated  his  to  God  alone. 
The  Romanist  believed  in  the  Pope,  as  the  visible  representa- 
tive of  Christ  on  earth,  and  in  the  hierarchy,  which  he  called 
the  Church,  as  the  depositary  of  all  spiritual  truth  :  the  Protes- 
tant looked  on  the  Pope  as  Antichrist ;  on  the  clergy  as  only 
the  ministers  of  the  Church,  not  the  Church  itself,  which,  in  his 
view  was  "  the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people ;"  and  the 
one  supreme  depositary  of  truth  he  acknowledged  was,  not  the 
priesthood,  but  the  Bible.  The  Romanist  believed  that  the 
priests,  by  virtue  of  an  alleged  official  descent  from  the  apostles, 
held  mystical  power,  which  conferred  grace,  absolved  sin,  and 
changed  bread  and  wine  into  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ :  the 
Protestant  recognized  in  the  clergy  only  the  ordained  teachers 
and  ministers  of  his  faith,  and  knew  no  distinction  between 
them  and  the  laity,  except  of  training  and  office.  The  Romanist, 
satisfied  with  the  teaching  of  the  Church,  was  contented  to  leave 
the  Bible  to  the  learned  ;  the  Protestant  held  that  it  was  to  be 
diligently  and  reverently  studied  by  all,  as  the  Word  of  God. 
The  one  dreaded  its  spread  as  tending  to  heresy :  the  other 
multiplied  translations  and  sought  to  introduce  them  to  every 
household.  The  Romanist  held  that  the  merits  of  Christ  could 
be  made  ours  only  through  the  sacraments,  and  that  these  could 
be  administered  only  by  a  duly  ordained  priest.  The  Protestant 
received  the  sacraments  as  divine  institutions  and  aids  to  faith, 
to  be  administered  by  the  clergy,  but  he  ascribed  to  them  no 
sacramental  efficacy  as  dispensed  by  their  hands,  and  held  that 
the  merits  of  Christ  were  bestowed  on  the  soul  only  in  answer  to 
sincere  and  humble  faith.  The  one  believed  in  a  purgatory 
from  which  masses  could  redeem  him :  the  other  treated  the 
doctrine  as  a  juggle  to  get  money.  The  one  adored  images  and 
relics,  and  ascribed  miracles  to  both  :  the  other  turned  the 
images  out  of  the  churches;  looked  on  the  relics  as  worth- 
less bones  and  rags,  and  flouted  the  miracles  ascribed  to  both 
as  lying  tricks  and  inventions.  The  one  looked  up  to  heaven 
through  a  vista  of  mediators, — the  priest,  the  saints,  and  the 


486  TJie  English  Reformation.  Fa.d,  1558- 

Holy  Virgin  :  the  other  believed  that  there  was  only  one  mediator 
between  God  and  man,  the  man  Christ  Jesus. 

Thus  the  two  systems  stood  in  absolute  and  irreconcilable 
opposition,  for  one  was  the  embodiment  of  individual  liberty 
and  direct  responsibility  to  God,  while  the  other  was  the  asser- 
tion of  unlimited  priestly  authority,  and  the  demand  for  silent 
obedience.  The  Romanist  knelt  at  the  foot  of  the  priest :  the 
Protestant  bowed  only  before  his  God.  To  attempt  a  compro- 
mise between  two  such  opposites  was  to  seek  to  harmonize 
contradictions.  Light  and  darkness;  fire  and  water,  could 
as  well  be  mingled.  The  Protestant  abhorred  Romanism  as 
idolatry ;  the  Romanist  was  bound  by  his  creed  to  look  on 
Protestantism  as  a  mortal  sin,  nor  was  it  allowed  him  to 
recognize  any  opinions  but  his  own  as  having  a  right  to  be 
tolerated  in  the  Church  or  even  in  the  world. 

The  accession  of  Elizabeth  at  once  showed  the  fierce  antago- 
nism between  the  two  faiths.  The  London  mob  hurriedly  tore 
down  the  new  crucifixes  raised  under  Mary.  Any  priests  who 
were  seen  were  hustled  and  forced  to  hide.  As  the  good  news 
spread,  the  exiles  in  Germany  and  Switzerland  hastened  back. 
They  included  multitudes  of  laymen,  and  a  great  many  of  the 
evangelical  clergy,  but,  unfortunately,  their  return  brought  with 
it  elements  of  discord.  Fierce  disputes  had  broken  out  in  the 
different  English  communities  abroad  respecting  the  liturgy  and 
much  else.  By  some,  the  Genevan  Presbyterian  ideas  had  been 
adopted :  others  had  warmly  retained  the  liturgy  published 
under  Edward,  as  not  only  good  in  itself,  but  hallowed  by  having 
been  borne  in  their  hands  to  the  stake  by  many  of  the  martyrs. 
Some  wished  a  change  in  stray  doctrinal  expressions  in  the 
Prayer  Book,  and  in  details  of  ceremony  in  the  offices  of  the 
Church  :  others  would  fain  have  had  liturgical  forms  entirely 
forbidden.  Thus  the  leading  divines  now  round  Elizabeth 
were  as  a  whole  more  or  less  affected  by  their  intercourse  with 
Continental  Churches.  Nor  could  their  views  be  lightly  ignored, 
for  their  rank  as  reformers  gave  them  a  supreme  claim  to  be 


AD.  1558]  The  Protestant  Faith  Established.  487 

consulted,  at  least  in  details.  To  use  Milton's  words,  they  were 
"  the  pastors  of  the  saints  and  confessors  who  had  suffered  and 
died  for  evangelical  truth.  They  had  fled  from  the  blood  perse- 
cution, and  had  gathered  up  at  length  their  scattered  members 
into  many  congregations.  These  were  the  true  Protestant  divines 
of  England,  our  fathers  in  the  faith  we  hold."*  Well  had  it 
been  for  our  Church  if  what  was  true  and  noble  in  their  ideas 
had  been  generously  accepted,  while  whatever  was  pedantic  and 
fanciful,  or  really  opposed  to  episcopal  government,  was  gently 
set  aside.  Unfortunately  the  spirit  of  Henry  survived  in  his 
daughter,  for  to  neither  did  it  ever  occur  for  a  moment  that  the 
nation  had  any  right  to  decide  for  itself,  in  any  question  either 
of  religion  or  politics. 

That  something  must  be  done  to  settle  religious  affairs  in  the 
nation  was  recognized  from  the  first.  Within  a  few  weeks  of 
Elizabeth's  accession  a  body  of  divines,  under  the  leadership  of 
Guest,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Rochester,  was  appointed  by  Cecil, 
the  queen's  confidential  counsellor,  to  revise  the  Prayer  Book 
and  remove  the  offensive  alterations  made  under  Mary.  Four 
lords  formed,  with  Cecil,  a  committee  of  council  for  commu- 
nication between  them  and  the  queen,  who,  Tudor-like,  claimed 
to  reject  or  approve  what  she  pleased  of  their  draft.  Mean- 
while, any  change  in  the  public  services,  before  Parliament  had 
authorized  it,  was  strictly  forbidden  by  proclamation." 

Mary  had  died  on  the  morning  of  the  1 7th  of  November,  but 
two  months  elapsed  before  Elizabeth  was  crowned  at  West- 
minster Abbey.*  She  had  spent  the  week  before,  according  to 
custom,  in  the  Tower;  once  her  prison,  now  her  palace. 
Thanking  God,  in  a  short  but  striking  prayer,  for  her  deliverance 
from  past  danger,  she  set  out  through  streets  crowded  with 
rejoicing  multitudes,  for  London  was  the  centre  of  Protestantism, 
and  she  was  its  hope.  Fountains  ran  wine  ;  allegorical  pageants 
in  the  fashion  of  the  times  delayed  the  procession,  at  point  after 

1  The  Tenure  of  Kin^s  and  Magistrates. 
Strypc's  Annals,  i.  pt.  ii^  appu  4.  •  •  Jan.  15,  1559. 


488  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1559. 

point.  The  Corporation  met  her  in  Cheapside  and  presented 
her  with  a  copy  of  the  English  Bible,  which  she  kissed,  thanking 
them  for  their  gift,  and  promising  to  read  it  diligently.  Though 
it  was  January,  fresh  flowers  were  handed  her  even  by  poor 
women  as  she  rode  on  amidst  "such  welcomings,  cries,  tender 
words  and  prayers  as  the  like  have  not  commonly  been  seen."^ 
At  the  coronation,  mass  was  sung,  as  if  things  were  still  to  remain 
unchanged,  and  the  Romish  bishops  generally  were  present. 

At  Mary's  death  the  episcopal  bench  was  entirely  Romanist. 
But  death  had  been  strangely  busy  with  it  in  the  brief  interval, 
and  this,  with  the  vacancies  at  her  accession,  left  Elizabeth 
more  than  a  dozen  sees  open  to  Protestants.  Nothing 
could  have  been  more  fortunate  for  the  Reformers.  But 
bishops  could  not  be  appointed  till  the  Marian  laws  respecting 
the  Pope's  supremacy  had  been  repealed. 

On  the  25th  January,  Parliament  met  in  a  very  different 
humour  from  the  last.  Horror  at  the  persecutions  had  secured 
a  strong  Protestant  majority,  for,  even  where  they  were  the  more 
numerous,  the  Romanists  were  for  the  time  afraid  or  ashamed  to 
put  themselves  forward. 

When  business  began,  the  change  from  the  past  was  at 
once  seen.  A  Bill  to  reannex  the  first-fruits  of  ecclesiastical 
benefices  to  the  crown  was  at  once  introduced.  Given  back 
by  Mary  to  the  priests,  their  loss  had  caused  the  serious  dimi- 
nution of  the  revenue,  but  they  were  now  restored  to  Elizabeth 
so  readily,  that  in  four  days  the  Bill  had  passed  the  Lords,  not- 
withstanding the  outcries  of  the  Romish  bishops. 

Proposals  for  taxation  followed,  with  the  striking  novelty  of 
the  clergy  being  made  liable,  without  being  consulted.  Hence- 
forth, Parliament  was  to  know  no  distinction  of  citizens  in 
their  obligations  as  such.  Next  came  an  earnest  address  to 
Elizabeth,  entreating  her,  for  the  sake  of  the  nation,  to  marry. 
Her  single  Ufe  stood,  apparently,  between  it  and  anarchy,  and 

*  Foxe,  viii.  673. 


4j).  I5S9-]         The  Protestant  Faith  Established,  489 

from  Philip,  her  sister's  widower,  down,  suitors  were  eager  for 
her  hand.  On  the  nth,  the  English  litany  was  once  more 
read  in  the  Lower  House,  the  members  devoutly  kneeling,  and 
two  days  after  a  Bill  for  restoring  the  Royal  Supremacy  was 
introduced.  The  bishops,  however,  fought  so  earnestly  against 
it,  that  the  discussion  was  repeatedly  adjourned,  for  in  the  Upper 
House,  the  Romanists,  as  yet,  had  things  all  their  own  way. 

Meanwhile,  Convocation  had  been  in  session  as  well  as 
Parliament,  and  showed  that  had  it  been  left  10  the  Marian 
clergy,  Romanism  would  have  been  confirmed  as  our  national 
religion.  A  protest  was  drawn  up  by  the  two  Houses  against 
any  religious  change,  and  avowing  their  firm  adherence  to 
Romish  doctrine.  The  natural  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  they 
maintained,  were  really  present  in  the  Sacrament,  by  virtue  of 
the  words  duly  spoken  by  the  priest.  After  consecration  no 
other  substance,  said  they,  remained.  The  mass  was  declared 
to  be  a  propitiatory  sacrifice :  "  Peter  and  his  successors 
were  Christ's  vicars  and  supreme  rulers  in  the  Church,  and 
authority  in  all  matters  of  faith  and  discipline  belonged,  and 
ought  to  belong,  only  to  the  pastors  of  the  Church,  and  not  to 
laymen." 

The  same  clerical  resistance  to  all  change  that  had  marked 
the  past  was  to  repeat  itself  under  Elizabeth. 

Peace  had  been  made  with  France  by  the  1 2th  of  March, 
and  thus  one  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  domestic  legislation 
was  removed.  Next  day,  the  Supremacy  Bill  was  again  brought 
forward,  and  it  was  finally  passed  with  a  single  verbal  alteration, 
afterwards  made  at  the  direction  of  the  queen,  Elizabeth  and 
her  successors  being  once  more  declared  the  Supreme  Governors, 
under  God,  of  the  Church  of  England.  Thus  the  Pope  was 
finally  dethroned.  *'  The  Pope  is  again  driven  from  England," 
writes  Parkhurst,  afterwards  bishop  of  Norwich,  to  BuUinger, 
"  to  the  great  regret  of  the  bishops  and  the  whole  tribe  of 
shavelings."* 

>  Zuiich'Lelteis.    Elizabeth,  36. 


490  The  English  Reformaiton.  [a.d.  1559 

The  political  question  thus  settled,  the  religious  remained 
to  be  considered.  From  the  clergy  no  help  could  be  expected, 
for  they  had  with  striking  unanimity  proclaimed  themselves 
uncompromising  Romanists.  Outwardly,  things  remained  as 
they  had  been  under  Mary.  The  mass  was  still  offered  in  the 
churches,  and  though  the  Litany  and  parts  of  the  Commvmion 
Service  were  read  in  English,  the  Romish  ceremonial  was  still 
everywhere  observed. 

To  change  the  theology  of  the  nation  without  at  least  an 
appearance  of  participation  on  the  part  of  the  clergy,  would, 
however,  have  seemed  unbecoming.  A  discussion  was,  there- 
fore, arranged  between  eight  speakers  on  each  side — the 
Romanist  and  the  Protestant,  at  Westminster  Abbey .^  Of  the 
Romanists  five  were  bishops  :  of  the  Protestants  only  one  :  the 
rest  were  exiles,  who  had  saved  their  lives  by  escaping  to  the 
Continent,  and  had  now  returned.  The  subjects  for  delibera- 
tion were  : — 

1.  The  use  of  prayer  in  Latin. 

2.  The  right  of    national  Churches  to  reform   their  cere- 

monies. 

3.  The  question  whether  the  Mass  was  really  a  propitiatory 

sacrifice  for  the  living  and  the  dead. 
Public  discussions  of  theological  matters  had  often  been 
tried  in  the  past,  and  had  always  embittered  differences  rather 
than  removed  them,  and  the  result  was  the  same  in  this  case. 
Things  had,  moreover,  been  so  arranged  that  the  bishops  should 
have  the  lead,  and  be  followed,  in  each  case,  by  the  Reformers; 
but  to  this  they  objected,  on  the  fair  ground  that  it  was  for  the 
assailants  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  to  state  their  objections 
to  them,  and  for  themselves  to  reply.  Two  days  were  spent  in 
heated  and  useless  recriminations,  which  ended  by  a  formal 
demand  for  this  modification  of  the  arrangements.  The  Lords 
and  Commons,  and  a  large  audience,  had  been  listening  to  the 

*  March  S'st. 


Aio.  1559-3         The  Protestant  Faith  Establislied.  491 

speeches,  which  were  made  in  English ;  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  the 
lord  keeper,  and  the  Archbishop  of  York,  presiding  on  behalf  of 
the  queen  and  the  Church  respectively :  but  the  whole  scene 
was  soon  felt  to  have  no  practical  value.  The  demand  of  the 
bishops  brought  matters  to  a  crisis,  for  when  the  lord  keeper 
replied  that  the  order  of  debate  could  not  be  changed,  they 
at  once  definitely  refused  to  go  on.  But  even  so  slight  a  mani- 
festation of  independence  was  criminal  under  a  Tudor.  The 
queen  had  prescribed  the  form  of  the  meeting,  and  it  was  not 
even  for  bishops  to  dare  to  suggest  an  alteration.  They  were 
told  forthwith  that  the  discussion  was  ended — and  by  their  fault. 
"  But,"  added  the  lord  keeper,  "  forasmuch  as  ye  will  not  that 
we  should  hear  you,  you  may  perhaps  shortly  hear  of  us." 
What  this  meant  was  presently  seen.  Two  of  the  bishops  were 
forthwith  committed  to  the  Tower  for  contempt,  and  for  having 
also  threatened  to  excommunicate  the  queen,'  and  the  others 
were  ordered  to  remain  in  London,  and  appear  daily  at  the 
Council  Chamber  till  their  case  was  decided. 

The  bishops  and  clergy  had  professed  to  accept  the  reforms 
of  Henry  and  Edward's  time,  but  Mary's  reign  had  rekindled 
their  old  zeal  for  Popery,  and  they  had  now  formally  taken  its 
side  by  the  petition  of  Convocation  and  by  the  attitude  of  the 
bishops  in  this  discussion.  It  was  clear,  that,  as  a  body,  they 
had  simply  submitted,  in  empty  show,  to  any  reforms,  while  still, 
at  heart,  as  Romish  as  ever,  for  though  some  of  them  doubtless 
rejected  the  political  claims  of  the  Pope,  they  were  imchanged 
in  everything  else. 

Nothing  remained  but  that  the  State  should  take  the  matter 
in  hand,  if  any  doctrinal  or  other  reforms  were  to  be  made,  and 
once  more  prescribe  to  the  ecclesiastics  a  creed  and  a  polity 
which  they  repudiated.  They  had  already  accepted  and  sworn 
to  uphold  and  teach  what  they  now  asserted  they  did  not  believe ; 
it  was  to  be  seen  whether  they  would  submit  to  do  so  a  second 
time  to  keep  their  preferments. 

*  Fuller,  ii.  512, 


492  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1559. 

Parliament  met  again  on  the  3rd  of  April,  and  a-t  once  began 
ecclesiastical  business  by  modifying  a  few  words  in  the 
Supremacy  Act  which  the  queen  wished  to  change.  She  had 
objected  to  the  title  of  The  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church,  and 
therefore  the  same  dignity  was  expressed  in  the  words  that  the 
crown  became  once  more  "  in  all  causes,  ecclesiastical  as  well 
as  civil,  supreme."  It  was  moreover  required  of  the  bishops 
and  clergy  that  they  should  renounce  the  Pope  as  a  condition  of 
holding  their  benefices,  and  accept  the  queen  as  Supreme 
Governor  of  the  Church  in  his  place.  Under  Henry,  refusal 
had  been  punishable  by  death,  as  treason,  but  the  true  spirit  of 
Protestantism  was  now  beginning  to  make  itself  felt,  and  depri- 
vation alone  was  to  follow. 

Thus  began  the  enactment  of  a  series  of  statutes  which  make 
this  session  for  ever  memorable  in  England.  The  Acts  of 
Henry  IV.  and  Henry  V.  against  heretics,  by  reviving  which 
Mary  had  been  able  to  burn  her  victims,  were  again  repealed. 
Henceforth  nothing  could  be  regarded  as  heresy  unless  it  had 
been  condemned  by  the  first  four  general  councils,  or  was 
contrary  to  Scripture,  or  might  hereafter  be  specified  as  heretical 
by  Parliament  and  Convocation. 

The  commission,  under  Guest,  to  revise  the  Prayer  Book  had 
meanwhile  submitted  their  finished  labours  to  Elizabeth,  but 
they  were  too  thorough  to  meet  her  ideas.  The  Reformers  had, 
indeed,  already  felt  their  position  difficult.  It  was  said  among 
them  that  Christ  had  been,  before,  cast  out  by  His  enemies,  but 
was  now  kept  out  by  His  friends.*  The  queen  was  wonderfully 
afraid  of  allowing  any  innovations,  though  she  openly  favoured 
the  cause  of  the  Reformers.*  "  Under  the  cruel  reign  of  Mary," 
wrote  Dr.  Cox,  the  tutor  of  King  Edward,  and  afterwards  Bishop 
of  Norwich,  "  Popery  so  much  increased  both  in  numbers  and 
strength,  that  it  was  hardly  to  be  imagined  how  much  the  minds 


*  Bishop  Jewel  to  Peter  Martyr.  Zurich  Letters.   Reign  of  Elizabeth,  28. 
'  Ibid.  22. 


AD.  1559.]  The  Protestant  Faith  EstablisJied.  493 

of  the  Papists  were  hardened  ;  so  that  it  was  not  without  great 
difficulty  that  our  pious  queen,  with  those  about  her  who  stood 
forth  with  alacrity  on  the  side  of  truth,  could  obtain  room  for 
the  sincere  religion  of  Christ.  Meanwhile,  we  (the  reforming 
divines),  that  little  flock,  who,  for  these  last  five  years,  have  been 
hidden  in  Germany,  are  thundering  forth  in  our  pulpits,  and 
especially  before  our  queen,  that  the  Roman  pontiff  is-  truly 
Antichrist,  and  that  traditions  are  for  the  most  part  blasphemies. 
At  length  many  of  the  nobility,  and  vast  numbers  of  the  people, 
began  to  return  to  their  senses ;  but  of  the  clergy  none  at  all. 
For  the  whole  body  remained  unmoved."^  The  mass  had 
already  been  discontinued  in  some  churches  without  authority, 
and  the  people  began  to  join  in  the  singing  at  public  worship. 
It  was  noticed,  moreover,  that  the  bishops,  to  avoid  being  assailed 
with  the  cry  of  butchers,  seldom  went  abroad.* 

Dr.  Guest  and  his  fellow-commissioners  recommended  that 
the  second  Prayer  Book  of  Edward,  which  was  much  more 
thoroughly  Protestant  than  the  first,  should  be  adopted,  but  the 
queen  would  not  sanction  it  without  some  changes.  It  was  too 
Protestant  for  her  taste.  The  Reformers  were,  in  fact,  appa- 
rently without  exception,  desirous  of  a  simpler  worship  than  she 
would  permit. 

Yet,  as  presented  to  Parliament,  and  appointed  Vy  it  for  use  in 
public  worship,  the  new  Prayer  Book  varied  only  in  a  few  points 
from  that  last  issued  under  King  Edward.  The  most  important 
alteration  appeared  in  the  sentences  at  the  delivery  of  the 
elements,  in  the  Communion  Service.'  But  this  was  from  no 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  Reformers  to  make  an  approach  to  the 
Roman  doctrine  of  the  mass,  which  they  cordially  abhorred. 
It  had  to  be  done  to  please  Elizabeth,  for  though  she  had  left 
St,  Paul's  before  mass  was  celebrated,*  she  retained  it  in  her 
— ♦— — - — — 

>  Dr.  Cox,  May  20,  1559.        Zurich  Letters.        Reign  of  Elizabeth.  36. 

*  Zurich  Letters.     Reign  of  Elizabeth,  4a 

•  See  pages  428,  429,  note.  *  Ellis  Letters,  2nd  Series,  ii.  262. 


494  ^-^^^  English  Reformation.  [ad-  i5S9- 

private  chapel.  Apart  from  her  personal  feelings,  moreover, 
which  were,  religiously,  Romanist,  and  only  politically  Protestant, 
she  had  determined  on  creating  a  compromise,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, between  the  Old  Party  and  the  New,  to  secure  the  support 
of  both.  The  Romanist  was  to  be  attracted  by  seeming  recog- 
nitions of  his  doctrines  in  the  standards  of  the  Church,  while 
the  Protestant  was  to  find  these  endeared  to  him  by  the  embodi- 
ment of  that  for  which  he  contended.  In  the  special  case  of 
the  Communion  Office,  however,  this  policy  was  doubtless  less 
painful  to  conservative  Reformers,  since  the  alterations  formed 
an  effective  protest  against  the  Zwinglian  doctrine  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  being  only  a  commemoration  of  our  Saviour's  death. 
Like  the  Presbyterian  Churches,  the  Church  of  England,  while 
firmly  opposed  to  the  idea  of  any  corporal  presence  of  Christ 
in  the  institution,  has  always  maintained  the  spiritual,  though, 
to  use  the  words  of  Hooker,  "  The  real  presence  of  Christ's 
body  and  blood  is  not  in  the  sacrament,  but  in  the  worthy 
receiver ;  "^  a  doctrine  which  the  Universal  Church,  in  its  widest 
sense,  may  well  receive. 

The  retention  of  any  trace  of  the  Old  System  in  the  Prayer 
Book  gave  great  offence,  from  the  first,  to  the  more  advanced 
Reformers,  and  was  hereafter  to  excite  disputes  which  rent  the 
Church  asunder.  It  is,  indeed,  to  be  profoundly  regretted  that, 
rather  than  slightly  change  a  few  words,  however  introduced, 
an  apparent  support  of  Romish  doctrine  should  have  been 
given,  which  has  been  and  still  is  the  excuse  for  attempts  to 
restore  Romanism  in  our  Church. 

Yet  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  to  have  framed  a  book  which 
would  have  perfectly  satisfied  all  was  impossible,  for  Protestant 
freedom  means  unrestricted  criticism  of  any  standard.  The 
wonder  is  that  so  admirable  a  success  should  have  been 
attained,  for  what  Englishman  does  not  reverence  the  Prayer 
Book  as  a  whole,  even  if  he  take  exception  at  some  isolated 

*  Eccles.  Polity,  Bk.  v.  224. 


A.D.  I5S9].  TJie  Protestant  Faith  Establislied.  495 

words  ?  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  "  meaning  of  the 
Reformers  was  not  to  make  a  new  Church,  but  to  reform 
according  to  the  primitive  model,"  *  though  in  this  they  un- 
doubtedly were  forced  by  the  crown  to  leave  their  work  imper- ' 
feet.  The  later  Puritans  would  have  ignored  the  ages  of  the 
Church  before  the  Reformation,  but  the  Reformers  wisely  sought 
to  retain  whatever  in  them  was  good,  and  reject  only  what 
was  the  reverse.  "  Such  things,"  says  Archbishop  Whitgift,  "  as 
we  now  use  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, — though  some  of 
them  have  been  used  in  the  name  of  Papistry, — ^were  appointed 
in  the  Church  by  godly  and  learned  men,  before  the  Pope  was 
Antichrist,  or  the  Church  of  Rome  greatly  corrupted.  Is 
Papistry  so  able  to  infect  the  Word  of  God,  godly  prayers,  and 
profitable  ceremonies,  that  they  may  not  be  used  in  the  Church 
reformed,  the  errors  and  impieties  being  taken  away  ?  "* 

Unfortunately  for  the  peace  of  the  Church,  the  Prayer-Book, 
as  left  by  the  Commission,  was  in  some  details  more  favourable 
to  Puritan  opinions  than  was  agreeable  to  Elizabeth  and  Cecil. 
The  surplice  was  allowed,  but  no  special  vestment  was  to  be 
used  at  the  Communion,  and  it  was  even  left  indifferent  whether 
communicants  should  stand  or  kneel.'  On  the  latter  point  the 
queen  required  uniformity,  and  ordered  that  communicants 
should  kneel ;  but  all  mistake  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  act  was 
made  impossible  by  a  note  explaining  that  "no  adoration 
is  intended,  or  ought  to  be  done,  either  unto  the  sacramental 
bread  or  wine  there  bodily  received,  or  unto  any  corporal 
presence  of  Christ's  natural  Flesh  and  Blood."  The  royal 
decision  respecting  vestments  and  ornaments  was  a  more  serious 
cause  of  regret,  for  it  appointed  the  Prayer  Book  of  1549  as  the 
standard,  instead  of  that  of  1552,  which  was  much  more  Pro- 
testant. Cox,  Grindal,  Horn,  Sandys,  Jewel,  Parkhurst,  and  Ben- 
tham,  future  bishops  and  archbishops,  resisted  a  step  so  dangerous 

*  Lathbury's  Hist  of  the  Common  Prayer,  69. 
*  Whitgift's  Defence,  474.       *  Proctor's  Hist,  of  Common  Prayer  38. 


496  The  English  Reformation,  [a.d.  1559. 

and  reactionary, — in  common  with  the  mass  of  the  Reformers, — 
but  the  iron  will  of  Elizabeth,  with  a  woman's  fondness  for  show, 
would  make  no  concession.  Convocation  was  not  even  con- 
sulted in  a  matter  so  singularly  within  its  province.  The 
Reformers,  says  Strype,  "  laboured  all  they  could  against  receiv- 
ing into  the  Church  the  Papistical  habits,  and  that  all  the 
ceremonies  should  be  clean  laid  aside.  But  they  could  not 
obtain  it  from  the  queen  and  Parliament,  and  the  habits  were 
enacted."  Most  of  them,  having  just  returned  from  exile,  had 
not  yet  begun  their  ministry,  and  so  serious  did  the  matter 
appear,  that  they  hesitated  for  a  time  whether  they  should  not 
stand  aloof  from  the  Church  till  the  obnoxious  order  was  repealed. 
"Then  they  consulted  together  what  to  do,"  says  Strype,  "being 
in  some  doubt  whether  to  enter  into  their  functions.  But  they 
concluded  unanimously  not  to  desert  their  ministry  for  some 
rites,  that  as  they  considered,  were  but  a  few,  and  not  evil  in 
themselves,  especially  since  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  remained 
pure  and  entire."^ 

The  excitement  for  the  time,  however,  was  very  great.  Jewel 
was  fierce  against  "the  theatrical  habits,"  and  "the  scenic 
apparatus  of  divine  worship,"  and  wroth  that  ''we^'  the  Reform- 
ing divines,  were  not  consulted.  Sampson,  afterwards  Dean  of 
Christchurch,  and  offered  a  bishopric,  turned  earnestly,  with 
others,  to  consult  the  German  Reformers  as  to  his  duty  in  the 
matter,  and,  indeed,  all  the  Reformers  were  in  great  trouble. 
But  the  queen,  Tudor-like,  carried  out  her  will,  and  Parliament, 
as  usual,  obeyed  her  pleasure. 

Yet,  if  they  could  not  succeed  in  preventing  the  first  Prayer- 
Book  of  King  Edward  being  made  the  rule  for  vestment  and 
ornaments,  the  Reformed  bishops,  presently  appointed,  managed 
at  least  quietly  to  ignore  requirements  they  themselves  so  much 
disliked.  The  earlier  vestments,  &c.,  were  not  generally  intro- 
duced, and  it  was  openly  said  even  by  the  bishops  that  the 

*  Strype's  Annals,  I  i   263. 


A.D.  1559]         The  Protestant  Faith  Established.  497 

rubric  was  not  intended  to  be  compulsory,  but  merely  to  legalize 
the  usages  of  the  royal  chapel.^  Thus  the  Church  owes  it  not 
to  her  own  authorities  but  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  Elizabeth,  that 
a  law  was  imposed  upon  it  which  well-nigh  rent  it  in  pieces  at 
the  beginning  :  which  divided  the  nation  into  dissent  and  con- 
formity :  which  in  the  days  of  the  Stuarts  brought  the  Church 
to  ruin ;  and  which  in  our  own  day,  as  in  that  of  Laud,  has  been 
used  to  justify  the  Romanizing  of  our  communion.  It  is  a 
fitting  comment  on  the  blind  tyranny  of  such  a  proceeding,  that 
these  hated  vestments  and  ceremonies,  to  enforce  which  thou- 
sands of  the  best  of  the  clergy  were  driven  out  of  the  Church, 
were  never  generally  worn ;  that  for  generations,  since,  they  were 
unknown  to  English  congregations,  and  that  they  are  now 
pronounced  illegal  by  the  highest  court  of  the  realm. 

The  new  Prayer  Book  was  ordered  by  Parliament  to  be 
introduced  in  June,  1559,  and  was  received  with  widespread  joy, 
for  it  decided  the  future  of  England  as  Protestant.  Where  ex- 
ception was  taken  at  any  details,  a  solution  was  found  for  the 
time,  even  by  the  bishops,  in  quietly  evading  what  they  disliked; 
a  course,  which,  however  undesirable  if  permanently  adopted  to 
a  material  extent,  was  indispensable  in  the  first  introduction  of 
a  new  system — if  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  Church  were  to  be 
maintained.  Indeed,  even  under  the  old  Church  an  absolute 
uniformity  of  service  had  not  been  demanded,  for  Rome  had 
tolerated  no  fewer  than  seven  different  "  Uses "  in  different 
districts  of  England.  Nor  was  it  possible  of  attainment,  at 
least  at  once,  when  the  desire  to  please  both  sides  had  raised 
conscientious  scruples  respecting  points  of  greater  or  lesser 
importance. 

Unfortunately,  Elizabeth,  in  her  lofty  conception  of  her  pre- 
rogative as  Supreme  Governor  of  the  Church,  failed  alike  in 
the  wisdom  and  tenderness  its  situation  demanded.  Rigid  com- 
pliance was  imperatively  demanded  with  even  the  most  offensive 


'  Strype's  Annals,  ch.  4,  p.  83. 


49^  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1559. 

requirement.  A  mechanical  uniformity  was  instantly  to  pre- 
vail in  the  least  particular.  No  one  would  dream,  even  now, 
after  three  hundred  years,  of  enforcing  a  rule  so  tyrannical,  nor 
is  it  felt  that  the  many  variations  in  subordinate  matters  which 
still  obtain  in  even  the  moderate  sections  of  the  Church,  are 
followed  by  any  injurious  results. 

But  an  imperious  will  was  now  to  insist  on  a  course  unavoid- 
ably disastrous,  and  a  succession  of  prelates  was  unfortunately 
found,  weak  enough  to  carry  out  the  fatal  policy  to  its  harshest 
particular,  with  the  result,  during  Elizabeth's  reign  alone,  of 
driving  out  one-third  of  the  clergy,  and  they  the  best  in  the 
Church.  The  only  palliation  of  such  a  course  is  the  hardly 
flattering  one  of  the  inflexible  determination  of  Elizabeth  that 
it  should  be  followed.  Even  an  archbishop  had  to  choose 
between  suspension  and  blind  obedience.  Archbishop  Grindal, 
in  1576,  for  a  touch  of  gentleness  to  the  Puritan  clergy,  then 
much  like  our  Evangelical  clergy  now,  was  at  once  suspended, 
and  was  never  restored,  though  Convocation  and  the  highest 
statesmen  in  the  land  interceded  that  he  should  be  so.  He 
had  written  a  letter  pleading  for  some  slight  relaxation  of  the 
odious  Uniformity  Act. 

What  made  matters  still  harsher  and  more  impolitic  was  that 
the  parties  were  so  nearly  balanced. 

Thus,  in  the  first  Convocation  held  after  1559 — that  of  1563 — 
a  petition  presented  in  the  Lower  House,  proposing  that  the 
Psalms  should  either  be  sung  by  the  whole  congregation,  or 
simply  read  by  the  minister — choir,  or  artistic  singing  and  organ 
accompaniment  to  them  being  dispensed  with — that  only 
ministers  should  baptize  (not  women  also)  and  that  without 
signing  the  cross  on  the  child's  forehead — that  kneeling  at 
Communion  should  not  be  compulsory — that  no  vestments 
except  the  surplice  be  retained — that  the  Act  of  Conformity 
should  not  be  absolutely  binding  in  ever)'thing — and  that 
festival  days  should  either  be  done  away  with,  or  the  services 
on  them  limited  to  morning  service  alone — was  rejected  only 


AD.  1559.]         The  Protestant  Faith  Established.  499 

by  fifty-nine  to  fifty-eight  votes.*  In  such  circumstances  could 
there  have  been  no  mutual  arrangement  made,  on  points  invol- 
ving neither  doctrine  nor  church  order,  to  save  the  Church 
being  literally  rent  in  halves  ?  Who  will  not  regret  that 
unbending  resistance  on  such  indifferent  things  should  have 
left  the  bitter  legacy  of  divisions  and  strife  we  have  had  from 
it  ever  since  ? 

The  new  Act  of  Uniformity  came  into  force  on  Midsummer's 
day,  1 559,  and  to  their  honour  fifteen  of  the  old  bishops  refused 
to  stultify  themselves  by  abjuring  the  Pope  once  more.  Among 
others,  Bonner  stood  out,  and  was  at  once  imprisoned,  "  a  jail," 
says  Fuller,  "  being  conceived  the  safest  place  to  secure  him 
from  the  people's  fury,  every  hand  itching  to  give  a  good 
squeeze  to  that  sponge  of  blood."*  The  clearance  of  the  bench 
by  this  and  other  causes  enabled  Elizabeth  to  appoint  no  fewer 
than  twenty  Protestant  bishops  within  a  short  time.'  But  it 
throws  a  startling  light  on  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the 
Reformers,  that  fewer  than  two  hundred  of  the  clergy  preferred 
to  resign  rather  than  comply  with  the  new  oath,  though  Convoca- 
tion had  unanimously  voted  for  Popery  in  its  completeness  only 
a  few  months  before,  and  when  even  such  a  witness  as  Dr.  Cox 
tells  us  that,  of  the  clergy,  "  none  at  all"  joined  the  Protestant 
movement.  With  the  pulpits  filled  with  men  thus  perjured  for 
bread,  the  wonder  is,  not  that  the  Reformation  met  with  diffi- 
culties, or  that  some  abuses  were  overlooked,  but  that  so  much 
was  effected. 

The  Articles  were  still  needed  to  complete  the  new  ecclesi- 
astical constitution,  but  they  were  not  added  till  1563.  Then, 
at  length,  England  was  once  more  definitely  a  Protestant  country. 

If  any  object  that  there  are  even  yet  some  things  in  our 
National  Church  that  need  reform — and  I  know  not  who  would 
deny  it — it  is  to  be  remembered  that  it  is  the  growth  of  fourteen 


'  Schoell,  art.  "  Puritaner."     Herzog,  xii.  364. 
«  Fuller's  History,  ii.  512.  »  ibid.  ii.  519. 


5CX)  The  English  Reformation.  [a.d.  1559- 

hundred  years,  and  may  well  have  contracted  blemishes  in  their 
long  course  which  it  is  more  easy  to  point  out  than  to  remove. 
It  would  be  well  for  us  all  in  this  matter  to  remember  the 
homely  saying  of  a  clergyman  of  another  venerable  communion 
when  twitted  with  faults  in  it,  from  which  the  bran-new  system 
of  the  objector  was  free.  "  When  your  chimney  has  gone  as 
long,"  meekly  replied  the  apologist,  "  it  will  need  sweeping  too." 
Nor  can  it  be  said  that  this  sweeping  is  not  even  now  going  on. 
If  unanticipated  movements  have  revealed  points  needing  atten- 
tion, it  only  shows  that  laws  cannot  be  made  beforehand  against 
unexpected  dangers,  while  the  cases  so  often  before  the  courts 
prove  how  earnestly  these  dangers  are  opposed  now  they  have 
shown  themselves.  The  Church  of  England  has  never  spoken 
of  finality  in  its  calm  and  measured  self-reform,  but,  in  this 
very  generation,  has  advanced  with  a  steadfast  purpose  towards 
the  purer  and  loftier  ideal  which  all  human  institutions  must 
ever  keep  before  them. 

Nor  can  I  find  a  nobler  testimony  to  its  services  in  the  past 
and  its  characteristics  now,  than  in  the  words  of  John  Angell 
James,  the  late  honoured  Nonconformist  minister. 

"  Its  Scriptural  doctrines,"  says  he,  "  are  the  themes  with 
which  Luther  and  Cranmer  and  Calvin  and  Knox  assailed  the 
Papacy,  and  effected  the  Reformation ;  its  divines  have  covered 
its  altars  with  works  more  precious  than  the  finest  gold  of  the 
ancient  sanctuary  of  Israel ;  its  literature  is  the  boast  and  glory  of 
the  civilized  world ;  its  armoury  is  filled  with  the  weapons  of 
ethereal  temper  which  its  hosts  have  wielded,  and  with  the  spoils 
they  have  won  in  the  conflict  with  infidelity.  Popery,  and  heresy ; 
its  martyrology  is  emblazoned  with  names  dear  and  sacred  to 
every  Protestant ;  and  at  the  present  moment  are  to  be  heard 
from  many  hundreds  of  its  pulpits,  truths  at  the  sound  of  which 
— accompanied  as  they  are  by  the  life-giving  power  of  the 
quickening  Spirit — the  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  are  starting 
into  life,  and  exhibiting  a  people  made  willing  in  the  day  of  His 
power,  which  shall  be  as  the  dew  of  the  morning." 


AJ>.  ISS9-]  Tlie  Protestant  Faith  Established.  501 

But  the  benefits  secured  for  England  and  the  world  by  the 
Reformation,  are  not  limited  to  the  creation  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, great  as  her  services  have  been,  and  still  are,  to  the  best 
interests  of  humanity.  The  principles  it  vindicated  are  the  hope 
and  the  noblest  heritage  of  mankind. 

It  was  the  revolt  of  the  human  intellect  and  heart  from  mental 
and  moral  slavery.  Christianity  had  brought  such  liberty  at 
first ;  Protestantism  was  its  resurrection,  after  priestcraft  had 
slain  it,  as  it  had  slain  its  Founder. 

It  asserted  triumphantly,  once  and  for  ever,  the  absolute  free- 
dom of  the  conscience  in  all  our  relations  to  our  fellow-men. 
Rome  had  demanded  blind  obedience  to  the  Church, — that  is,  in 
effect,  to  the  individual  priest,  literally, — on  pain  of  hell.  Pro- 
testantism, for  "  the  Church,"  put  God.  It  accepted  no  human 
Church  or  Church  institution,  as  free  from  error  or  the  possi- 
bility of  it,  either  in  itself,  its  acts,  or  its  utterances. 

It  held  up  the  Scriptures  as  the  supreme  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  and  put  them  in  the  hands  of  all,  that  they  might 
follow  them  for  themselves.  It  allowed  no  man  to  stand 
between  the  soul  and  its  Maker.  It  held  that  salvation  depends 
on  no  human  mediation,  or  priestly  acts,  but  flows  directly  from 
the  self-revelation  of  God  in  His  Word.  It  taught  that  the 
merits  of  the  sacraments  are  dependent  on  no  act  of  a  priest, 
but  on  the  direct  communion  of  the  soul  with  Christ. 

It  claimed  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  all  demands  on 
our  belief,  and  thus  made  each  man's  conscience  responsible  only 
to  God.  While  gratefully  accepting  all  aids  and  ministrations 
to  guide  to  a  decision,  that  decision  was  reserved  absolutely  to 
the  individual  himself. 

In  the  political  sphere  it  embodied  the  same  grand  principles. 
It  demanded  that  no  man  should  suffer  for  his  religious  opinions ; 
a  principle  long  opposed,  but  now,  at  last,  admitted  to  the  full, 
in  the  rejection,  by  every  English-speaking  nation,  of  all  religious 
disabilities.  Force  cannot  be  used,  under  Protestantism,  to 
compel  acceptance  of  opinions  which  conscience  denies. 


502  The  English  Reformation.  [a.o.  1559 

It  secured  protection  to  all  in  their  fidelity  to  conscience.  The 
right  of  all  was  established  to  express  freely  their  religious  convic- 
tions, and  to  associate  themselves  with  others  in  a  public  profession 
of  these.  Thus  all  men  were  made  free  to  form  themselves  into 
new  religious  societies,  so  long  as  the  opinions  advanced  were 
not  clearly  opposed  to  the  public  welfare.  This  principle  also 
is  recognized  in  all  English-speaking  nations. 

It  not  only  sanctioned,  but  imposed  as  a  sacred  duty,  the 
frankest  investigation  of  all  questions.  Its  unchanging  motto 
was  and  is  "  Prove  all  things."  It  was  henceforth  impossible  in 
Protestant  countries,  to  imprison  a  Galileo,  or  to  keep  an  Index 
Expurgatorius,  and  it  became  a  religious  duty  to  secure  a  sound 
education  to  the  child  of  the  poorest  citizen.  The  very  essence 
of  Protestantism  is  to  seek  for  more  and  more  light. 

It  taught  that  men  become  true  members  of  Christ,  not  by 
any  priestly  acts,  or  by  mere  outward  connection  with  "the 
Church,"  or  obedience  to  it,  as  the  vital  condition,  but  by  a 
living  and  active  faith  in  Christ,  shown  by  a  holy  life.  And 
since  this  faith,  which  alone  justifies  the  soul,  is  a  personal  act 
between  it  and  God  alone,  the  soul  is  responsible  for  its  faith  to 
no  one  but  Him. 

It  proclaimed  that  all  true  believers,  over  the  whole  earth, 
form,  as  such,  the  one  true  invisible  Church,  whose  members 
are  known  surely  to  God  alone,  and  will  in  the  end  be  acknow- 
ledged by  Him  at  the  Great  Day. 

As  to  the  results  of  these  great  principles,  to  which  more 
might  be  added,  they  are  seen  on  every  hand. 

They  have  made  England  independent  of  an  Italian  priest- 
prince.  She,  alone,  now  makes  her  own  laws,  and  is  mistress  in 
her  own  house.  Not  only  so,  they  have  forced  Rome  to  abate 
its  pride  towards  the  State  everywhere.  Since  the  Reformation, 
she  has  seen  it  wise  to  give  up  her  excommunications  and 
interdicts  of  kingdoms,  her  dethroning  kings,  her  claim  to 
present  to  all  Church  livings,  to  send  bulls  where  she  likes,  to 
tax  nations  at  her  pleasure  for  her  own  exchequer,  or  to  cite 


[AD.  1559.  The  Protestant  Faith  Established.  503 

citizens   and   even   monarchs   for  trial  before   Roman  priest- 
lawyers  in  a  Roman  court. 

They  have  freed  the  land  from  monks  and  monkery,  which 
even  Romanist  countries  have  since  put  down  as  an  intolerable 
evil.  They  have  abolished  that  most  fruitful  source  of  im- 
morality, the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  and  have  made  layman  and 
ecclesiastic,  alike,  subject  to  the  civil  courts.  They  have 
exploded  the  doctrine  of  purgatory — that  richest  mine  of  priestly 
wealth  and  popular  superstition.  They  have  removed  from 
between  the  soul  and  God  the  crowd  of  priests  and  saintly 
mediators,  and  taught  men  to  go  to  Christ  rather  than  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  or  to  the  glorified  dead, — to  go  to  the  Head  rather 
than  to  tlie  feet, — as  one  of  the  Protestant  martyrs  put  it. 

They  have  dispelled  the  belief  that  a  sinful  man,  who  calls 
himself  a  priest,  can  judicially  absolve  a  man  from  his  sins. 
They  have  swept  away  from  amongst  us  the  hateful  system  of 
compulsory  Secret  Confession — have  purified  our  churches 
from  miracle-working  pictures  and  images,  and  have  turned  to 
ridicule  the  thousand  inventions  and  impostures  by  which  Rome 
kept  her  hold  on  the  souls  of  men.  They  have  given  us 
spiritual  communion  with  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  instead  of 
the  belief  that  a  fragment  of  bread  is  changed  by  the  priest 
into  Christ  Himself,  and  eaten  as  such.  They  have  given  us  a 
pure  and  simple  worship  in  our  own  language,  instead  of  the 
endless  bowings  and  kneelings,  the  vestments,  and  incense,  and 
lights,  and  thousand  ceremonies  of  Rome.  They  have  given  us 
the  Bible,  with  its  divine  wealth  of  heavenly  and  earthly  wisdom, 
in  our  own  tongue.  And,  to  crown  all,  by  securing  for  us  the 
fullest  civil  and  religious  liberty,  they  have  made  England,  here 
and  over  the  world,  wherever  her  institutions  have  gone,  the 
envy  of  every  nation. 

I  have  no  fear  that  our  country  will  ever  part  with  such  a 
heritage.  To  no  land  is  freedom  dearer.  Britain  knows  how 
her  fathers  went  to  the  stake  to  drive  out  the  priest  from  her 
borders,  and  they  will  not  let  him  re-enter  them  to  rule.    Like  all 


504 


The  English  Reformation. 


[AJ>.  1 559. 


Other  citizens,  he  may  enjoy  his  religion  and  publicly  preach  it, 
but  let  him  beware  of  doing  more.  As  to  the  "  Conspirators," 
England  loathes  them,  and  will  not  rest  till  they  be  ejected 
from  a  Church  whose  wages  they  take  while  they  betray  her 
faith. 


INDEX. 


Abbeys,  foun'lation  of  Peterborough, 
Crowland,  and  Ely,  4. 

Abbots  and  other  dignitaries  of  the 
Church  hanged  hke  common 
men,  301,  311,  342. 

Act  against  appeals  to  Rome,  180  ; 
against  money  payments  to  Rome, 
227. 

Albigenses,  massacre  of  the,  17. 

Alfred,  King,  5. 

A  less,  or  Alesius,  a  friend  of 
Cranmer's,  274,  283,  284. 

Altars  exchanged  for  tables,  426. 

Anselm,  Primate,  8,  9. 

Arthur,  death  of  Prince,  129. 

Articles,  the  Ten,  285,  286 ;  the 
Six,  made  law,  334,  335,  337;  the 
Thirty-nine,  430. 

Askew,  Anne,  her  martyrdom, 
387—391- 

Audley,  Chancellor,  248 ;  beha- 
viour to  Anne  Boleyn  of,  268. 

Augustine,  Archbishop,  the  First, 
of  Canterbury,  4  ;  sent  by  Gre- 
gory to  convert  the  English,  3. 

Auto  da  Fe  at  Chichester,  478. 


B. 

Bainham,  his  mart)rrdoiu,  213. 

Baptism,  as  defined  in  the  Ten 
Articles,  286;  as  defined  after- 
wards, 498. 


Barnes,  Garret,  and  Jerome  burnt, 

354- 

Bartholomew's,  St,  Hospital,  10, 
464. 

Barton,  Bernard,  Rector  of  Hough- 
ton-le-Spring,  398,  399,  400, 410, 
428. 

Becket,  Thomas  Ji,  II,  12  ;  festival 
of,  no  longer  kept,  311  ;  desecra- 
tion of  his  shrine,  319. 

Bede,  the  Venerable.  5. 

Bernard,  St.,  6,  17,  24. 

Berta,  the  Christian  queen,  3. 

Bible,  the  complete  English,  pub. 
lished,  297;  allowed  to  be  read 
in  every  church  and  house,  302 — 
304.  359. 369.  404.  405;  edition  to 
be  prepared  by  the  universities, 
367,  368;    spiead  of   the,  316, 

3«7- 

Bilney,  126,  190,  193,  194,  197, 
202  ;  preaching,  arrtst,  and  mar- 
tyrdom, 202—204, 

Bishop,  removal  of  a  Protestant, 
441 ;  of  Rome,  no  (greater  in 
England  than  any  other  foreign 
bishop,  233. 

Bishops, appointment  of,  for  the  term 
of  the  existing  reign,  397  ;  Nor- 
man, in  England,  6 ;  their  elec- 
tion, 228 — 230. 

Bishops'  Book,  the,  305,  371,  372  ; 
vestments,  425. 

Bocher,  Joan,  burnt,  410. 

Boleyn,  Anne,  152 ;   character  of, 


So6 


Index, 


275  ;  bounty  of,  240  ;  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of,  born,  221  ;  lo?s  of 
Henry's  favour,  265,  266  ;  Gar- 
diner's hatred  of,  267  ;  imprison- 
ment of,  26S;  secret  marriage  of,  to 
Henry,  179  ;  public  marriage  and 
coronation  of,  183  ;  trial,  con- 
demnation,  and  death  of,  271 — 

274* 

Bonner,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  317  ; 
Bishop  of  London,  343  ;  cast 
into  prison,  409,  420,  499  ;  hatred 
of,  470,  471  ;  Latin  service  re- 
stored by,  439  ;  mariyrs,  six, 
burnt  by,  458 ;  reinstated  as 
Bishop  of  London,  437 ;  im- 
morality of,  343. 

Buckingham,  Luke  of,  executed, 
146. 

Burning  of  heretics  legalized,  55  ; 
statute  for,  repealed  under  Ed- 
ward  VL,   407;    revived    under 


Cade,  Jack,  rebellion  of,  68. 
Calais,  loss  of,  479. 
Candlemas,  meaning  of,  362. 
Canterbury,  from  the  first  the  home 
of  the  Church,  3  ;  school  founded 

Cathedrals,  foundation  of  many, 
18,  39. 

Catherine  of  Arragon,  127  ;  death 
of  her  sons,  139,  140;  divorced, 
179)  ^83 ;  marriage  to  Henry, 
1^7;  title  reduced  to  that  of 
Princess  Dowager  of  Wales,  233  : 
death  of,  263. 

Celibacy  of  clergy,  6,  8,  23  353  ; 
act  about  repealed,  407,  419,  441, 
448.     _ 

Ceremonies,  difference  of  opinion 
about  religious,  373 — 375. 

Charterhouse,  execution  of  the  friars 
of  the,  249,  250. 

Chicheley,  Archbishop,  60,  61. 

Christchurch  Priory  dissolved,  248. 

Christianity,  its  introduction  into 
England,  2  ;  necessity  of  recon- 
version of  the  English  to,  after 


the  Saxon  invasion,  2,  3  ;  eclipse 
of  British,  2. 

Christ's  Hospital,  464. 

Church,  abuses  in  the  399,  400; 
formerly  a  separate  kingdom  under 
its  own  laws,  &c.,  8  ;  freedom  of, 
in  Bede's  day,  5  ;  independence  of 
each  other  of  the  Alexandrian, 
Gallican,  &c.,  3  ;  quantity  of  land 
belonging  to  the,  6 ;  reforms  in 
the,  317,318;  systematic  action 
of,  its  influence  on  national  history, 
4;  the  union  of  England  under 
Oiie,  first  inspired  the  national 
sentiment,  5 ;  wealth,  immense 
of  the,  73,  74,  78;  wealth,  greed, 
corruption,  and  oppressions  of 
the,  38,  109. 

Churches,  used  as  stables,  &c.,  410; 
taxation  of,  48S;  royal  visitation 
of  all,  ordered,  403. 

Civilization,  progress  of,  21,  22. 

Clergy,  amenable  only  to  ecclesias- 
tical tribunals,  7 ;  subject  to  the 
law,  like  others,  174. 

Clerkenwell  parish  church,  endow- 
ment of,  433. 

Cleves,  Anne  of,  328,  339 — 341  ; 
marriage    of,    345 ;    divorce    of, 

352,  353- 

Colet,  Lean,  and  other  intellectual 
leaders  in  the  time  of,  90,  92 ; 
preaching  of,  no.  III. 

Commu  ion,  kneeling  to  partake  of 
the  Holy,  495,  498. 

Concordance,  the  first  English,  378. 

Confession  made  a  condition  of 
communion,  20 ;  Wycliffe's  de- 
claration against,  46  ;  Lollards' 
ideas  concerning,  52. 

Constantinople  taken  by  the  Turks, 
70. 

Convocation  had  to  resign  all  claim 
to  legislate  for  the  Church,  209, 
210. 

Council  of  Basle,  67  ;  Clarendon, 
II;  Constance,  62,  175;  Pisa, 
58;  Whitby,  4;  first  English,  pre- 
sided over  by  Papal  Legate,  9. 

Court,  legate's,  at  Blackfriars,  161. 

Courts,  ecclesiastical,  6,  121,  144, 
228. 


Index. 


507 


Courtenay,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury,  53. 

Cranmer,  Thomas,  1 68  ;  marriage 
of,  169;  advises  Henry  to  apply 
to  the  universities  for  divorce  170; 
consecration  as  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  of,  181,182;  Frith,  and 
218  ;  Gardiner's  hatred  of,  222  ; 
character  of,  224;  petition  that 
the  whole  Bible  might  be  trans- 
lated into  English,240 — 242;  Anne 
Boleyn,  his  fidelity  to,  274,  275  ; 
Alesius,  or  Aless,  fiiend  of,  274, 
2S3,  284  ;  transubstantialion  and 
apostolic  succession,  his  opinions 
concerning,  307  ;  plea  that  the 
money  confiscated  from  monas- 
teries, &c,  should  be  taken  to 
endow    schools,    hospitals,   &c, 

330,  334.  343,  383  ;  fidelity  to 
Cromwell,  349  ;  doctrines  of,  357 ; 
attempt  to  ruin.  378,  379  ;  plots 
against,  381,  384;  ceremonies, 
some  of  the  religious,  abolished 
by,  385  ;  catechism,  408  ;  liturgy 
in  English  prepared  by,  413 — 
415  ;  imprisonment  and  trial  of, 
440, 443  ;  trial  before  Brooks  of, 
463  ;  recantation  and  martyrdom, 
472,  474. 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  166,  171  ;  char- 
acter of,  351  ;  defence  of  Wolsey, 
172  ;  effect  of  his  views  on  the 
Church  of  to-day,  1 73  ;  succeeded 
Wolsey  in  the  confidtnce  of 
Henry,  204  ;  treaty  of  the  Pro- 
testant nations,  his  grand  scheme 
for,  25  3 — 25s;  freedom  of  thought, 
his  sympathy  with,  254  ;  ap- 
pointed visitor  -  general  of  all 
monasteries,  262  ;  vicegerent  of 
the  king,  288  ;  reasons  why  his 
position   became  insecure,  330 — 

331.  335.  336,  340,  34»  ;  laU  and 
execution  of,  350. 

Crosses  on  the  highways  pulled 
down  by  unknown  hands,  199. 

Crusades,  their  influence  on  civili- 
zation, 17. 

Customs,  curious  religious,  in  Ed- 
ward's time,  406. 

Customs,    superstitious,    that    bad 


been  discontinued  recommenced, 
328 
Cuihbert,  St.,  4. 

D. 

Danish  wars,  results  to  religion  of 

the,  5. 
Dante,  his  opinion  of  Rome,  30. 
Dead  bodies  burnt,  477. 
Dioceses,  distribution  of  the  country 

into,  5. 
Dunstan,  his  labours  to  reform  the 

Church,  6> 


E. 


Edward  VI.,  395  ;  barbarity  of  the 
age  of,  409,  410  :  death  of,  435 ; 
requiem  mass  performed  for,  by 
Mary's  order,  437. 

Edwin,  death  of,  a.d.  633,  4. 

Elizabeth  sent  to  the  Tower,  447 ; 
queen,  accession  of  as,  483,  484  ; 
coronation  of,  487,  488 ;  Prayer 
Book,  revision  of  the,  under,  487, 
492 — ^494;  Supremacy  Bill  passed, 
489 ;  theological  discussion  be- 
tween Romanists  and  Protestants, 
490,  491  ;  burning.  Acts  in  favour 
of,  repealed  by,  49  ?. 

England,  state  of,  in  15 14,  226, 
484. 

Episcopate,  organizing  of,  by  Theo- 
dore of  Tarsus,  4. 

Erasmus'  account  of  Becket's  shrine, 
73  ;  account  of  shrine  of  Our 
Lady  of  Walsingham,  75 ;  his 
writings  and  teachings,  90,  91, 
124 — 126;  Testament,  Greek,  by 
89 — 91  ;  on  Pope  Julius,  112  ;  his 
edition  of  Jerome  denounced, 
112  ;  satire  on  the  monks,  258. 

Ethelbert,  conversion  of,  3. 

Eucharist,  the  belief  of  the  Lollards 
concerning  the,  52  ;  Act  ordering 
that  it  be  received  in  both  kinds, 
407,  422 ;  Latimer's  belief  con- 
cerning, 466 ;  Luther  and  Hooker's 
views  concerning  the,  52,  494 ; 
Prayer  Book,  note  in,  relative  to, 
428—430. 


5o8 


Index. 


Europe,  state  of,  about  1525,  244, 

245- 
Exiles,  Protestant,  return  of,  402. 


Faith,  unity  of,  a  help  to  the  union 
of  the  nation,  4,  5. 

Ferdinand,  and  Isabella,  intrigues 
of,  to  get  the  Papal  permission 
for  her  to  marry  Henry,  133 — 
135  J  perfidy  of,  to  Henry,  140, 
141  ;  death  of,  145. 

Ferrar,  Bishop  of  St.  David's, 
burnt,  458. 

First-fruits,  transference  of,  to 
Henry,  240. 

Fisher,  execution  of,  252. 

Francis  of  Assisi,  24. 

Friars,  Order  of,  founded,  24 — 26  ; 
greed  and  corruption  of,  28,  29, 
36  ;  Chaucer's  opinion  of,  36,  37  ; 
Gower's  opinion  of,  37,  38 ; 
printed  attack  on  the,  191 ;  sup- 
pression of  the  houses  of  the 
Observant  Friars,  231  ;  licenses 
to  friars  and  priests  to  preach 
revoked  till  they  had  taken  the 
oath  of  allegiance,  234  ;  stirring 
up  sedition  against  the  king  and 
the  Act  of  Supremacy,  248 ; 
revenue,  the  sequestration  of 
their,  by  Wolsey  and  Henry  on 
account  of  their  corruption,  255, 
256;  Erasmus'  picture  of  the, 
258  ;  "  The  Supplication  of  the 
Beggars,"  a  satire  on  the,  258; 
some  of  the  ways  by  which  they 
enriched  themselves,  259. 

Frith,  John,  2 13  ;  arrest  of,  214, 
215  ;  martyrdom  of,  218. 

G. 

Gardiner,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
222,  223,  329;  commission,  spe- 
cial, summoned  to  the  Arch- 
bishop's palace,  Gardiner  the 
representative  on  the  Romish  side, 
304 ;  awakens  Henry's  preju- 
dices against  the  Reformers,  322 
— 324;  character  of,  337  ;  preach- 


ing, 344,  345  ;  executions  under, 
35  2i  355  ;  ordered  not  to  appear 
before  the  king.  392  ;  cast  into 
prison,  409;  deprived  of  bishopric, 
426 ;  his  liberation,  437  ;  Chan- 
cellor, Lord,  442  ;  his  book 
against  the  Papal  supremacy  re- 
printed, 453  ;  death  of,  471. 

Gaunt,  John  of,  32. 

Gerson,  Chancellor,  on  the  state 
of  the  Church,  65. 

Gospel  of  St.  John,  translation  of, 
into  English,  5. 

Gregory  the  Great  exhorting,  not 
commanding,  3. 

Grey,  Lady  Jane,  435  ;  rising  in 
favour  of,  443 — 446. 

Grindal,  suspension  of  Archbishop, 
498. 

H. 

Heathenism,  long  struggle  between 

it  and  Christianity,  2,  4. 
Henry  VH.  reigning  as  the  nominee 

of  the  Church,  81  ;  character  of, 

83- 

Henry  VHI. ,  his  character  and 
appearance,  83,  106,  107,  146 ; 
cited  to  appear  before  the  Pope, 
162,  177  ;  condition  of  England 
in  the  reign  of,  108,  109  ;  divorce, 
appeal  to  Rome  for,  155  ;  di- 
vorce, legate's  court  held  at 
Blackfriars  to  settle,  161  ;  supre- 
macy over  the  Church  formally 
recognized,  174,  176;  desire  to 
separate  from  the  court,  not  the 
Church,  of  Rome,  179;  Supreme 
Head  of  Church,  this  litle  made 
law,  233,  239  ;  discoveries  and 
conquests  in  the  time  of,  247 ; 
excommunicated  by  Pope  Paul 
IIL,  253  ;  rebellions  in  Lincoln 
and  the  northern  shires,  293 — 295, 
300 — 302  ;  deposition,  the  bull  of, 
against,  320  ;  elections,  his  inter- 
ference  with  the,  331  ;  Primer 
and  Manual  of,  the  New,  357  ; 
taxes,  heavy  under,  369,  383 ; 
death,  393. 

Heretics,  statute  against,  55,  58. 


Index. 


509 


Hildebrand,  the  arrogant  assump- 
tions of,  7,  8. 

Hooper,  Bishop,  424 — 426  ;  impri- 
soned, 439,  440  ;  burnt,  455,  456. 

Howard,  Catherine,  350  ;  marriage 
to  Henry,  360;  fall  and  execu- 
tion of,  363. 

Hunne,  the  story  of  Richard,  1 21, 
122. 

Huss,  John,  59  ;  death  of,  64. 


1. 


Indulgences,    sale    of,    114,     115; 

Tetzel's  sale  of,  u6  ;  account  of 

the.  sold  by  him,  1 16. 
Inquisition,  the  Spanish,  120. 
Ireland,  and  the  Western  Islands  of 

Scotland,  first  missionaries  from, 

,4- 
Irish    Church,   all   connection    of, 
with     English     Church    broken 
off,  4. 


James,  John  Angell,  testimony  of, 
to  the  Church  of  England,  500, 

Jerome  of  Prague,  64, 

John,  King,  13—15. 

John,  suppression  of  the  Knights  of 
St.,  348. 

K. 

Kempis,  Thomas  Ji,  86. 

King,  expected  to  be  dependent  on 

Rome,  7. 
Knox,  John,  431  ;  his  book  against 

the  rule  of  women,  480. 


Lambert,  the  trial  and  burning  of, 
324—326. 

Lanfranc,  Primate  of  England,  68. 

Langton,  Stephen,  13 — 15. 

Latimer,  Hugh,  goes  to  Cambridge, 
125 ;  conversion  of,  by  Bilney, 
126;  arrest  of,  190,  191;  preacher, 
his  popularity  as  a,  198,  199,  221, 
310 ;  appeal  of,  to  Henry  VIII. 


in  favour  of  the  free  circulation  of 
Tyndale's  Testament,  200 ;  first 
trial,  210,  211  ;  royal  chaplain, 
201  ;  rector  in  Hereford,  202 ; 
a  great  popular  favourite,  230 ; 
his  fearless  denunciation  of  the 
abuses  of  the  Church,  277 — 280  ; 
father  of  Latimer — account  of,  by 
his  son,  293;  resignation  of  his 
bishopric,  337  ;  "  Sermon  of  the 
Plough,"  417,  418;  condemned 
to  death,  440 — 446 ;  trial  and 
burning  of,  463 — 470. 

Learning,  New,  enthusiasm  for,  89. 

Leyden,  John  of,  246. 

Licenses,  power  of  the  Pope  to 
grant  transfered  to  archbishops, 
227. 

Lindisfame,first  ecclesiastical  centre, 

5- 

Litany,  English,  published,  38a 

Liturgy,  each  Church  had  its  own, 
in  early  times,  3 ;  Reformed 
Liturgy,  The,  413. 

Livings,  sale  of,  427,  428. 

Lollards,  43,  45,  51  ;  Anne  of  Bo- 
hemia supports  the,  53 ;  Henry 
IV.  opposes  the,  55,  56. 

Loyola,  Ignatius,  foundation  of  the 
Order  of  Jesuits  by,  247. 

Luther,  Rome,  journey  of,  to,  I13  ; 
indulgences,  his  challenge  of  the 
doctrine  of,  117;  bull,  Papal, 
burning  of  the,  by,  117;  excom- 
munication of,  147;  peasant  wars 
attributed  to  the  teachings  of^ 
189,  190 ;  books  containing  his 
doctrines  burnt,  193,  194. 


M. 


Marriage,  table  of  forbidden  de- 
grees of,  in  our  Bibles,  156 ;  law 
forbidding,  within  the  seventh 
degree  of  kindred,  9. 

Martyrdoms  by  turning,  &c. ,  1 18 — 
120,  185,  186,  188,  204,  206,207. 

Mary,  the  Princess,  I45  ;  Charles 
V.'s  promise  to  marry,  I49» 
Charles'  marriage  instead  with 
the  Infanta  of  Portugal,  151  ; 
transferred  to  the  household  of 


510 


Index. 


the  Princess  Elizabeth,  226 ; 
queen,  437;  personal  appear 
ance  of,  442,  445 ;  marriage  to 
Philip  of  Spain,  446 ;  entrance 
into  London,  447;  illness  of, 
459,  462  ;  conspiracy  against, 
474  ;  executions  under,  475,  476, 
478 — 481  ;  death  of,  481  ;  charac- 
ter of,  482. 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  368  ;  pro- 
ject of  marrying  her  to  Edward, 
409. 

Miracles,  pretended,  of  Rome,  77, 
314-316. 

Monasteries,  spread  of,  6  ;  Wolsey 
empowered  to  visit,  103  ;  made 
subject  to  the  king's  visitation. 
228  ;  immense  wealth  a  tempta- 
tion to  Henry  to  suppress  them, 
z6r  ;  report,  dreadful,  of  them 
presented  to  Parliament,  262  ; 
suppression  of  the,  256,  266,  289, 
29O)  333i  411;  shrines  in,  de- 
stroyed, 318  ;  destroyed  for  greed, 
312,313;  libraries  of,  destroyed, 
342,  343  ;  Glastonbury,  monastery 
of,  description  of,  34 r,  342. 

Monks  thrusting  aside  the  clergy, 
6;  corruption  of,  256 — 258,  292, 
461  ;  disloyalty  of,  248,293,  294. 

More,  Thomas,  94;  Seal,  receives 
the  Great,  163;  chancellorship, 
resignation  of  the,  181 ;  refuta- 
tion of  the  teachings  of  Tyndale, 
197 ;  heretics,  his  fierceness 
against,  203,  204  ;  his  arrest  for 
treason,  226  ;  allegiance,  oath  of, 
refuses  to  take,  and  is  impri- 
soned, 231,  232;  execution  of, 
251  ;  character  of,  252. 

Mortmain,  statute  of,  passed,  20  j 
repealed  under  Mary,  449. 

Music  in  churches,  498. 


N. 

"  New  Learning  "  spread  of  the,  in 

England,  196,  197. 
Normandy,  ecclesiastical  activity  in, 

in  eleventh  century,  60. 
Northumberland,  Duke  of,  in  power, 


4^2  ;  endowments,  his  plunder  of, 
433  ;  execution  of,  437. 

O. 

Oldcastle,  Sir  John,  54,  57 — 59  ; 
martyrdom  o^  ^o. 

Ordination,  special  statute  concern- 
ing, 422. 

Oxford,  progress  of  the  New  Learn- 
ing  at,  195 — 197  ;  visitation  of 
under  Cromwell,  290  ;  colleges 
founded  at,  from  suppression  of 
monasteries,  256  ;  reforms  made 
at,  213,  291. 


Pall,  or  Pallium,  182. 

Papal  claims,  intolerableness  of,  7  ; 
commands,  William's  defiance 
of,  7. 

Parishes,  England  divided  into,  4. 

Parliament,  servility  of,  1 66,  239, 
331  ;  the  first,  20. 

Parr,  Catherine,  377  ;  plot  against, 

■    392. 

Paul  IV. ,  Pope,  bull  of,  for  restora- 
tion of  all  Church  property,  460, 
461. 

Paulinus,  conversion  of  Edwin  by,  4. 

Pauls,  St.,  built  in  London,  10. 

Peasantry,  the,  social  condition  of, 
affected  by  the  Black  Death,  51 ; 
rising  of  the,  416. 

Pecock,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  de. 
prived  of  his  bishopric  for  his 
opinions,  118. 

Persecution,  fierce,  57. 

Peter,  St.,  sacred  claims  of,  4. 

Peter's,  St.,  building  of,  113,  115. 

Philip  leaves  England,  463. 

Pilgrimages,  &c.,  contrary  to  Scrip- 
ture, 404,  408. 

Pluralities,  dispensations  from  Rome 
for,  449  ;  a  legacy  of  the  pre- 
Reformation  Church,  449. 

Pole,  Carainal,his  attack  on  Henry, 
285,  286;  result  to  his  family,  327; 
absolves  England  publicly  from 
schism,  450 — 452;  Archbibhop  of 


Index. 


511 


Canterbury,  476 ;  disgraced  by 
Pope  Paul,  479  ;  death  of,  482. 

Popes,  the  Borgias,  79, 80 ;  Eugenius 
IV.,  deposition  of,  68 ;  John 
XXIIL,  62;  Paul  II.,  79;  the 
Pope  spoken  of  as  a  god,  117. 

Popes,  acts,  repeal  of  all  prejudicial 
to,  448, 449;  the  claim  of,  to  be  the 
ultimate  court  of  appeal  in  reli- 
gious matters,  3 ;  early,  limited 
claims  of,  3  ;  profligacy  of  many 
of  the  pre- Reformation,  79,  80. 

Popery  without  the  Pope.  382. 

Prayer  Book,  Henry  VIII. 's  Primer 
the  original  of  our  own,  235 — 238 ; 
introduction  of  the  new,  497. 

Prayers  in  English,  to  be  read  in 
divine  service,  380. 

Preachers  from  Scotch  and  Irish 
Churches  the  real  apostles  of  Eng- 
land, 4. 

Premunire,  Act  of,  34,  57, 67  ;  repeal 
of,  70 ;  clergy  all  iirought  under 
the  penalties  of,  202. 

Priests,  corruption  of  the,  71. 

Printing,  invention  of,  85. 

Prisons,  439,  455'  466,  470,  471. 

Protector,  Uuke  of  Somerset,  exe- 
cution of  the  brother  of,  417  ;  his 
misgovemment,  415. 

Protestant  principles,  the  effects  of, 
502,  504. 

Protestantism,  its  teachings,  500, 
502. 

Provisors,  statute  of,  pa.ssed,  34,  39. 

Puritanism,  its  first  appearance,  423. 


R. 

Reform,  necessity  of  Church,  500. 
Reformation,  causes  of  English,  2  ; 

delayed  a  hundred  years  by  Henry 

V.'s  French  wars,  61. 
Relics  at  Canterbury,  &c.,  74.  SU 

— 315- 

Religion  and  literature,  special 
seats  of  early,  5. 

Revenue  of  the  Church,  32. 

Revolutions  not  the  creation  of  in- 
dividuals, I  ;  their  fundamental 
characteristics,  I. 

23 


Ridley,  imprisonment  of,  440 ;  trial 
and  burning  of,  463 — 470. 

Rogers,  martyrdom  of,  453,  454, 

Rome,  sacking  of,  158 ;  England 
declared  free  from,  165. 

Roses,  wars  of  the,  condition  of 
England  during  the,  7z. 


Sacraments,   the  assertion    of   the 

seven,  147. 
Salisbury,   Countess  of,    executed, 

363- 

Saunders,  Lawrence,  his  martyr- 
dom, 454. 

Savanarola  burnt,  81,  85. 

Sawtre,  martyrdom  of  William,  56. 

Schism,  the  Great,  41,  57. 

Schools,   Grammar,  foundation  of, 

93- 

Scotland,  impulse  towards  Reforma.- 
tion  in,  363 — 368  ;  wars  in,  3S2. 

Seymour,  Jane,  265  ;  marriage  to 
Henry,  274  ;  death  of,  309  ;  Ed- 
ward VI.  born,  308. 

Simnel,  Lambert,  and  Perkin  War- 
beck,  83. 

Solway  Moss,  battle  of,  368. 

Somerset  House  Buildings,  42 1. 

Somerset,  Protector,  396;  deposed, 
421  ;  reinstated  and  executed, 
432. 

Stephen,  civil  war  in  reign  of,  10. 

Supremacy,  royal,  maintained  vigor- 
ously by  WUliam  the  Conqueror, 

7- 
Surrey,  death  of  the  Earl  of,  393. 
Systems,    Romish    and   Protestant, 

irreconcilable  difference  between, 

484—486,  SOI. 


Taxation  of  Church  property,  35. 
Taylor,   Dr.  Rowland,   martyrdom 

of,  456,  457.   ^ 
Theodore    of     Tarsus,    what     the 

English  Church  owes  to,  4. 
Tiara,  meaning  of  the  Papal,  21. 
Tiler,  Wat,  revolt  under,  38,  45. 


512 


hidex. 


Towns,  state  of  the,  in  thirteenth 
century,  27. 

Tran  substantiation,  doctrine  of,  first 
taught,  20. 

"  Truce  of  God,"  the,  22. 

Tyndale,  William,  190;  his  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  96, 
191  ;  books  of,  193,  197,  198 ; 
arrest  of  his  brother  for  selling 
his  Testaments,  204,  205 ;  Henry's 
endeavour  to  arrest  him  in  Ant- 
werp, 2 10 ;  arrest  and  death  at 
Vilvorde  of,  298  299. 

U. 

Uniformity,  Act  of,  499. 
Universities,  their  attitude  towards 
the  Reformation,  423,  424. 


Vatican  Libraiy  founded,  79. 


Vestments,  495 — 497. 

W 

Warham,  Archbishop,  96,  97  ;  his 
death,  179. 

William  the  Conqueror  refuses  to 
do  fealty  for  England  to  the 
Pope,  7;  his  readiness  to  serve 
the  Church,  6,  7. 

Wolsey,  Thomas,  97  ;  as  Archbishop 
of  York,  very  popular,  164  ;  cha- 
racter of,  102  ;  reasons  why  he 
was  disliked,  103,  151  ;  chancel- 
lor, 144;  fall  of,  162;  appeal 
from  his  death-bed  to  Henry  to 
suppress  the  new  sect,  201  ;  death 
of,  164. 

Wycliffe,  33 ;  translation  of  the 
Bible  by,  42 — ^44 ;  transubstan- 
tiation,  his  declaration  against, 
45  ;  death,  48;  body  of,  exhumed 
and  burnt,  64. 


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and  which  thoughtful  people  will  be  glad  to  gain  from  bo  agreeable  a  teacher." 

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"  The  author  has  aimed  at  producing  a  book  of  continuous,  easy  narrative,  in 
which  the  reader  may,  as  far  as  possible,  see  the  Saviour  of  men  live  and  move, 
and  may  hear  the  words  he  utters  with  the  most  vivid  attainable  idea  of  his  cir- 
cumstances and  surroundings.  The  result  is  a  work  to  which  all  Christian  hearts 
will  respond." 

From  BisJwp  Littlejohn,  of  Long  Island. 

"Dr.  Geikie  has  performed  his  task— the  most  dlfBcult  in  biographical  litera- 
ture—with great  ability.  His  pages  evince  abundant  and  accurate  learning,  and, 
what  is  of  even  more  consequence,  a  simple  and  cordial  faith  in  the  Gospel  narra- 
tives. The  more  the  work  shall  circulate,  the  more  it  will  be  regarded  as  a  most 
valuable  addition  to  a  branch  of  sacred  literature  which  ought  in  every  age  to 
absorb  the  best  fruits  of  sacred  scholarship,  and  to  command  the  highest  gifts  of 
human  genius." . 

From  Rev.  Dr.  Adams,  President  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary. 
"  Another  invaluable  contribution  in  proof  of  historical  Christianity.    It  is  a 
beautiful  specimen  of  typography,  and  we  anticipate  for  it  an  extensive  circula- 
tion, to  which  it  is  entitled  for  its  substantial  worth,  its  erudition,  its  brilliant 
style,  and  its  fervent  devotion." 

From  the  Rev.  W.  Lindsat  Alexander,  D.  D.,  S.  T.  P.,  Edinburgh,  Member  of 
th£  Old  Testament  Company  of  Revision,  Editor  of  Kitto's  "  Cyclop<Edia  of 
Biblical  Literature,''''  etc. 
"  Dr.  Geikie's  work  is  the  result  of  much  thought,  research,  and  learning,  and 

It  is  adorned  with  many  literary  excellences.    It  cannot  fail  to  become  a  standard, 

for  its  merits  are  substantial,  and  its  utility  great." 

From  the  Rev.  Br.  Cubrt. 
"A  careful  examination  of  Dr.  Geikie's  work  seems  to  prove,  what  might  be- 
fore have  been  doubted,  that  just  such  a  work  was  needed  to  meet  a  real  want: 
it  successfhlly  indicates  its  own  right  to  be,  by  responding  to  the  necessity  thai 
it  discovers." 

[rOR  OPINIONS  OP  THE  PBESS,  SEE  NEXT  PAQE.l 


Dr.  Greikie's  life  and  Words  of  Clirist. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE   PRESS. 

"These  fresh  volnmes  are  marked  throaghout  by  a  hnmane  and  devout  spirit 
^^  ^"'^      "*  ^*^^'  *  ^^'^  ^  popular  literature. "-iVw  Tork 

"In  Dr.  Geikie's  volumes  the  person  and  works  of  Christ  receive  the  chief 
attention,  of  course;  bat  the  background  is  so  faithfully  and  vividly  drawn  that 
the  reader  is  given  a  fresher  idea  of  the  central  figure."— A>w  York  IndepeiidenL 

J'A  monument  ofindnstry  and  a  mine  of  learning.  The  students  of  onr  theo- 
logical colleges,  mmlsters,  and  others,  will  find  much  of  the  Information  here 
given  of  great  worth  and  noy e\iy:'—Noncot\formist. 

"Dr.  Qeikie'8  paraphrases  are  generally  most  excellent  commentaries. 
An  encyclopaedia  upon  the  life  and  times  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  an  encyclo- 
paedia which  has  an  organic  unity,  pulsating  with  a  true  and  devout  spiritualitr 
of  thought  and  feeling.*'— Xomton  CAm«an  JTorW. 

"His  style  is  always  clear,  rising  sometimes  into  majestic  beauty.  His  most 
steady  pomt  of  view  Is  the  relation  of  Christ  to  the  elevation  of  the  race,  and  he 
struggles  to  make  clear  the  amazing  richness  of  Christ's  new  things— the  pro- 
found character  of  his  philoBophy,  and  the  practical  humanity  that  wells  up  out 
of  these  great  deeps."- A'<^w  York  Metkodist. 

"The  'Life  of  Christ'  may  be  fitly  compared  to  a  diamond  with  many  facets. 
From  every  point  of  view,  the  light  that  streams  forth  upon  us  is  beneficent. 
No  two  observers  will  probably  ever  catch  precisely  the  same  ray,  but,  for  all 
who  look  with  unclouded  eye  (whatever  their  angle  of  vision  maybe),  there  fhines 
forth  'the  licht  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.'  Without  dis- 
paraging in  any  sense  the  noble  labors  of  his  predecessors,  wc  think  Dr.  Geikie 
has  caught  a  new  ray  from  the  '  Mountain  of  Light,'  and  han  added  a  new  page  to 
our  Christology  which  many  will  delight  to  read."— JVeto  York  EvangdiU. 

"The  chief  merit  of  Dr.  Geikie's  volumes  lies  in  the  attention  paid  to  the 
Burronndings  of  our  Saviour's  earthly  life ;  so  that  the  reader  is  presented  with 
a  picture  of  the  Jewish  people,  national  characteristics,  social  customs,  and 
religious  belief  and  ritual. 

"It  is  with  reluctance  that  we  take  leave  of  these  splendid  volumes,  for  it  is 
an  enjoyment  to  examine  and  a  pleasant  duty  and  privilege  to  commend  tliem. 
We  feel  sure  we  could  desire  no  more  valuable  and  usefbl  addition  to  Chriatian 
libraries."— Ajpfecopo/  Recorder  (Philadelphia). 

"  If  any  one  desires  a  reliable  and  intelligent  guide  in  the  study  of  the  Gospel 
history,  he  cannot,  we  think,  do  better  than  take  the  graphic  pages  of  Dr.  Geikie. 
The  American  edition  is  cot  up  most  elegantly;  the  binding  is  very  handsome, 
the  paper  good,  the  type  large  and  clear;  the  engravings  and  maps  are  excellent. 
They  are,  Indeed,  two  beautiful  volumes."— .^Don^s/tou  Chtirdunan  (Toronto). 

"Of  all  that  has  been  written  hitherto  on  that  life,  nothing  seems  to  us  to 
equal  in  beauty  that  which  we  find  in  the  two  magnificent  volumes  before  aa, 
Tncy  bring  to  view  the  social  conditions  in  which  Jesus  made  hi*  appearance. 
They  give  us  a  vivid  portraiture  of  those  who  were  about  htm -both  the  frienda 
and  the  enemies— the  parties,  the  customs,  the  influences  that  prevailed."— 
Epiicopoa  Begiiter  (Philadelphia). 

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HENRI  VAN  LAUN, 

Author  of  "  History  of  French  Literature,"  etc. 


In  2  vols.,  12mo ,       .       Oloth,  $3.60. 


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politicians  and  statesmen  of  Europe." — iV.  Y.  Daily  Graphic. 

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For  American  readers  it  may  be  said  to  have  secured  a  temporary  monopoly  of  a  most 
interesting  topic.    Educated  persons  can  scarcely  afford  to  neglect  it." — iV.  Y.  Sun. 

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salient  features  which  marked  the  course  of  events  than  he  might  from  some  of  the 
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the  same  epoch." — N.  Y.  Express. 

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mand that  which  is  of  value,  and  also  a  masterly  ability  in  presenting  them  tersely, 
and  at  the  same  time  throwing  in  enough  of  incident  and  the  lighter  thought  to  make 
the  volumes  wholly  enjoyable." — Chicago  Inter- Ocean. 

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satisfactory  way." — Boston  Journal. 

"  No  student  of  American  history  can  afford  to  be  without  this  book."— ;S<.  Louis 
Times-Journal. 


D.  APPLETON  &,  CO.,  Pitblishbes,  649  &  661  Bkoadway,  New  Tobk. 


TEIT-WOEK  m  PALESTIM: 

A  Becorl  of  Dlscoyery  ani  Adyenture. 

By  CLAUDE    REIGNIER  CONDER,  R.  E., 

OmCER  IN   COMJIAND  OF  TH«  SUBVBT   ExrEDITIOM. 

Published  for  the  Committee  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund. 

WithSaiauttratiotubt/J.  W.  WHTMPER. 


2V0LS.,  8to Cloth,  $fl.oa 


CONT 

Thx  Road  to  Jebusaleu. 

Shechem  and  the  Samaritans. 

Thk  Sprviy  of  Samaria. 

The  Great  Plain  or  Esdb^lon. 

The  Nazareth  Hills. 

Carmxl  and  Acre. 

Sharon. 

Damascus,  Baalbek,  and  Hkbmom. 

Samson's  Country. 

Bethlehem  and  Mar  Suba. 

Jerusalem. 

The  Temple  and  Galtabt. 


ENTS. 

Jericho. 

The  Jordan  Valley. 

Hebron  and  Beersbeba. 

The  Land  or  Bknjami.v. 

The  Desert  or  Judah. 

The  Shiphdah  and  Philistsia. 

Galilee. 

The  Origin  or  nix  Fellahin. 

Line  AND  Habits  or  the  FELLAnbf. 

The  BedawIn. 

Jews,  Russians,  and  Germans. 

The  Fxrtilitt  or  Palestine. 


This  book  is  intended  to  give  as  acciirate  a  general  description  as 
possible  of  Palestine,  which,  through  the  labors  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Exploration  Fund,  is  brought  home  to  us  in  such  a  war  that  the  student 
may  travel,  in  his  study,  over  its  weary  roads  and  rugged  hills  without 
an  ache,  and  may  ford  its  dangerous  streams  and  pass  through  its  maU* 
rious  plains  without  discomfort. 


D.  APPLETON  k  CO.,  64»  k  661  Broadway,  New  Ton. 


COWLES'S  NOTES  ON  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 


I,    THE  MINOR  FROPHETS. 

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II.    EZEKIEL    AND    DANIEL. 

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V.    NOTES   ON  JEREMIAH. 

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By   Rev.    HENRY    COWLES,    D.  D. 

From  The  Christian  Intelligencer,  N.  T. 
"These  works  are  designed  for  both  pastor  and  people.  They  embody  the  re- 
sults of  much  research,  and  elucidate  the  text  of  sacred  Scripture  with  admirable 
force  and  simplicity.  The  learned  professor,  having  devoted  many  j-ears  to  the 
close  and  devout  study  of  the  Bible,  seems  to  have  become  thoroughly  furnished 
with  all  needful  materials  to  produce  a  useful  and  trustworthy  commentary." 

From  Br.  Leonard  Bacon,  of  Yale  College. 
"There  is.  within  my  knowledge,  no  other  work  on  the  same  portions  of  the 
Bible,  combining  so  much  of  the  results  of  accurate  scholarship  with  so  much 
common-sense  and  so  much  of  a  practical  and  devotional  spirit." 

From  Eev.  Dr.  S.  Wdcott.  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
"The  author,  who  ranks  as  a  scholar  with  the  most  eminent  graduates  of  Yale 
College,  has  devoted  years  to  the  study  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  in  the  original 
tongues,  and  the  fruits  of  careful  and  independent  research  appear  in  this  work. 
With  sound  scholarship  the  writer  combines  the  unction  of  dt'ep  religions  expe- 
rience, and  earnest  love  of  the  truth,  with  a  remarkable  freedom  from  all  fanciful 
speculation,  a  candid  judgment,  and  the  faculty  of  expressing  his  thoughts  clearly 
and  forcibly." 

From  President  E.  B.  Fairfield,  of  Hillsdale  College. 
"I  am  very  much  pleased  with  your  Commentary.  It  meets  a  want  which 
has  long  been"  felt.  For  various  re.isons.  the  writings  of  the  prophets  have  con- 
stituted a  sealed  book  to  a  large  part  of  the  ministry  as  well  as  most  of  the  com- 
mon people.  They  are  not  sufficiently  understood  to  make  them  appreciated. 
Your  brief  notes  relieve  them  of  all  their  want  of  interest  to  common  reader*. 
I  think  you  have  said  just  enough." 


COWLES'  NOTES-Continued. 


ri,     THE  REVELATION  OF  JOHN. 

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Bibliotneca  Sacra. 


VII,     THE  PSALMS. 

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"  The  sweet  singers  of  Israel  have  found  in  Dr.  Cowles  as  congenial 
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that  useful  service."— CSotijrrcsra/uwiaZiw. 


VI I L     THE  PENTATEUCH, 

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IX,    HEBREW  HISTORY, 

(From  Joshua  to  Esther  Inclusive.) 

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C.  is  destined  to  be  read  for  many  generations  to  coiu^  '  —Interior. 


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A 

HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 

IN  THE 

EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 

By  WILLIAM  EDWARD  HARTPOLE  LECKY, 

Aothor  of  "Hiatory  of  tha  Rise  and  Influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Rationalism  in  Europe,"  "History  of 
Eoropean  Morals,  from  Augustas  to  Charlemagne,"  etc. 


2  vols.,  12mo.    Cloth,  $5.00. 


"  No  more  important  book  has  appeared  of  late  years  than  this  history,  uniting  as 
It  does  80  engrossing  a  subject  with  so  vital  an  object.  .  .  .  We  say,  again,  that  Mr. 
Lecky  has  made  his  mark  upon  our  time  bv  his  careful  and  fascinating  book,  and  we 
have  reason  to  be  glad  that  while  he  is  still  himself,  and  his  pen  has  a  sharp  point  and 
is  held  with  a  strong  hand,  his  temper  has  gained  gentleness  with  time,  and  his  mind 
has  not  lost  insight  by  laborious  study.  We  congratulate  the  publishers  upon  what 
cannot  fail  to  be  a  great  success,  and  we  wish  them  speed  in  their  task  for  our  sake 
and  their  own."— ^«m;  York  Times. 

"  On  every  ground  which  should  render  a  history  of  eighteenth-century  England 
precious  to  thinking  men,  Mr.  Lecky's  work  may  be"  commended.  The  materials  ac- 
cumulated in  these  volumes  attest  an  industry  more  strenuous  and  comprehensive 
than  that  exhibited  by  Froude  or  by  Macaulay,  and,  if  its  fruits  are  not  set  forth  with 
the  pictorial  charm  of  the  latter  writer,  they  "are  invested  with  more  authority.  Mr. 
Lecky's  style  is  lucid  and  effective,  often  spirited,  sometimes  eloquent.  But  it  is  his 
supreme  merit  that  he  leaves  on  the  reader's  mind  a  conviction  that  he  not  only  pos- 
sesses the  acuteness  which  can  discern  the  truth,  but  the  unflinching  purpose  of  truth- 
telling." — N'eto  York  Sun. 

"  The  author  of  these  volumes  has  not  trodden  in  the  beaten  path.  His  work  is  a 
record  of  the  progress  of  art,  of  manners,  of  belief,  and  of  political  ideas.  Judicial  im- 
partiality is  a  characteristic  of  his  writings." — TTie  Xeto  York  Churchman. 

"The  work  will  enrich  any  library.  The  account  of  John  Wesley  in  the  second  vol- 
ume will  be  interesting  to  our  Methodist  readers  ;  and.  if  it  is  not  in  all  details  just,  it 
is  unexpectedly  just  in  the  general  outlines  of  Wesley's  work  and  character.  The 
great  influence  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  is  recognized,  and  especially  the  impetus 
it  gave  (against  Wesley's  wish)  to  n  -n-onformity." — New  York  Methodist. 

"Mr.  Lecky  belongs  to  the  newer  school  of  thinkers,  who  accept  little  which  does 
not  bring  credentials  that  will  bear  the  test  of  examination,  and  who  do  not  hesitate  to 
shock  conventional  ideas  of  authority.  Not  the  least  attraction  of  this  history  is  tiie 
independence  of  thought  in  its  author,  the  conscientious  frankness  of  opinion,  as  well 
as  the  freshness  of  style  which  he  brings  to  its  discussions.  Mr.  Lecky  adds  to  intelli- 
gence and  fairness  a  remarkable  reasoning  capacity  and  a  rare  degree  of  literary  skill; 
and  his  work  is  an  invaluable  addition  to  the  higher  literature  of  the  day." — Boston 
Gazette. 

"  The  work  fiUs  a  place  which  has  never  been  fully  occupied.  Mr.  Lecky  has  given 
not  80  much  a  formal  history  as  a  series  of  historical  essaj'S,  in  which  his  untiring  re- 
search and  philosophic  grouping  of  principles  and  facts  combine  to  stimulate  and  in- 
form the  nnind.  His  discernment  of  the  true  causes  of  the  American  Revolution  is 
shown  in  his  recog^nition  of  the  fact  that  a  restrictive  commercial  policy,  more  than  any 
isolated  instances  of  oppression,  brought  on  the  struggle.  The  discussion  of  Irish 
grievances  is  a  most  noticeable  feature  of  the  work ;  and  the  exhibition  of  the  causes 
and  effects  of  religious  revivals,  as  shown  in  the  rise  and  progress  of  Methodism,  is  of 
timely  interest  and  value.  Indeed  the  work  is  so  full  of  suggestive  facts  and  philo- 
sophic generalizations  connected  with  subjects  of  living  Interest  to-day,  that  it  should 
Iwve  wide  circulation." — Boston  Globe. 

B.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers,  549  &  551  Broadway,  N,  Y. 


H  I  STORY 

or 

EUROPEAN    MORALS. 

FBOM  AUGUSTUS  TO  CHARLEMAGNE. 

By  WILLIAM  K  H.  LECKY,  M.  A. 

2  vols.,  i2mo,     -    -    Cloth,  $3.00 ;  Half  Calf,  extra,  $7.00. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS.      . 

"  It  has  been  subjected  to  snch  critical  attack,  and  enstained  bv  aticb 
able  defense,  that  its  worth  is  universally  known.  It  is  a  mine  of  informa- 
tion in  a  restricted  but  important  province,  and  will  long  be  quoted  for  its 
thoroughness  in  opening  a  study  which,  though  touched  by  other  writern. 
never  before  had  such  exhaustive  consideration.  Those  who  have  not  reaa 
it  will  find  their  study  of  it  richly  rewarded."— jl/6any  Evening  Time*. 

"In  his  methods,  Mr.  Lecky  is  a  model  of  cleamesB  and  force.  Holding 
firmly  the  doctrine  of  evolution  in  morals,  he  finds  the  origin  of  typical 
vices  and  virtues  in  the  ideal  standards  of  the  people,  tracing  the  spociflc 
virtues  and  vices  of  each  epoch  considered  to  the  special  characierisiics  of 
8  preceding  epoch,  which  have  been  handed  down  as  ideals.  That  his  con- 
clusions do  not  command  universal  acceptance  is  undoubtedly  true,  but 
they  do  command  respect  wherever  honest  thought  and  faithful  labor,  in 
search  alter  truth,  are  appreciated."— Zfc<7t>i<  Free  Prew. 

"There  is  a  vast  fund  of  information  in  the  work,  which  the  student  of 
the  broad  theme  that  it  treats  will  find  of  great  interest,  and  one  to  which  he 
may  refer,  as  occasion  requires,  with  a  certainty  of  finding  something  to  the 
point.  The  volumes  are  arranged  with  foot-notes,  giving  authorities,  refer- 
ences, and  quotations."— ^«nin^  WUcongin. 

"The  controversial  part  of  the  first  chapter  having  given  rise  to  a  good 
deal  of  discussion,  and  to  some  little  acnmonv  of  feeling,  perhaps,  the 
author  has  softened  it  by  the  omission  of  a  few  lines,  and  strengthenea  bis 
position  by  the  insertion  of  some  brief  passages,  explaining  the  meaning, 
or  enforcing  it."— .^'e^o  York  Ettning  Pott. 

"  The  excellence  of  this  work  is  already  attested,  and  it  has  long  age 
been  considered  a  standard.  The  controversial  portion  of  the  work  Is  clear 
in  its  statements,  and  so  masterly  in  its  handling  of  the  salient  points  that 
none  but  an  exceeflingly  obtuse  person  could  fall  to  catch  the  full  force  of 
the  argument  presented.  The  author's  object  is  to  trace  the  changes  that 
have  taken  place  in  the  moral  standard  and  moral  type  through  the  dllferont 
ages,  and  he  concerns  himself  mostly  with  the  period  between  Angtutu 
and  Charlemagne. "—//>c/i«ina/x)^i«  JoumcU, 

D.  APPLE  TON  fir*  CO.,  Publishers, 

649  ajid  551  Broadway,  NewToilc 


lixSTORY 

OF   THE 

RISE  AND  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SPIRIT 

OF 

Rationalism  in  Europe. 

Brj  WILLIAM  E.  H.  LECKY,  M.  A. 

2  vols.,  small  8vo.     .     .     Cloth,  $4.00;   Half  Calf,  extra,  $6.00. 


The  Nation. 

"Mr.  Lecky  is  an  exceedingly  intelligeut,  cultivated,  and  accomplislied 
man,  of  quick  and  true  perception,  of  boandlesa  and  well-digested  reading, 
of  swift  and  vigorous  reasoning  power,  of  singular  liberality  and  candor. 
He  is  intellectual,  and  at  the  same  time  enthusiastic;  broad  without  being 
shallow,  and  rapid  without  noise.  A  man  of  earnest  conviction,  he  is  en- 
tirely free  from  bigotry;  as  an  historian  he  is  almost  faultless,  and  as  a  critic 
he  is  without  a  peer.  His  book  is  animated  by  a  vital  idea  which  gave  it 
birth,  and  which  quickens  every  paragraph  to  the  end ;  but  the  idea  is  too 
large  and  luminous  to  have  the  character  of  a  dogma.  The  work  will  no 
doubt  be  extensively  read.  The  wealth  of  its  contents,  and  the  singular 
grace  of  its  style,  always  flowing,  often  picturesque,  sometimes  burning 
with  sappressed  eloquence,  will  insure  a  multitude  of  admirers.  We  hope 
they  will." 

Chicago  Home  Circle. 

"  Mr.  Lecky  launches  out  upon  his  subject  with  a  majesty  and  confidence 
which  prove  him  eq^ual  to  the  task.  He  handles  nice  distinctions  which 
other  writers  on  similar  subjects  have  found  it  convenient  to  shun.  It  is 
not  often  tliat  we  meet  so  close  and  strong  a  reasoner.  Independent  and 
just  himself  in  the  exercise  and  expression  of  thought,  he  grants  the  same 
privilege  to  others.  He  is  a  dangerous  opponent,  for  he  argues  from  pri- 
mary principles ;  but  it  is  not  so  much  his  object  to  get  the  better  of  his  op- 
ponent as  to  get  at  the  truth  ;  and  this  is  his  power.  No  one  will  regret 
a  perusal  of  this  great  work." 

Bichmond  Whig. 
"We  found  that  we  held  in  our  hand  the  book  of  a  mn<»ter.   It  Is  an  able, 
well-digested,  well-written,  well-wrought  book,  containing  much  learning, 
and  many  interesting  and  illustrative  facts,  cited  from  every  department  of 
human  knowledge." 

Cincinnati  Western  Christian  Advocate. 
"It  is  a  comprehensive  and  philosophic  delineation  of  rational  develop- 
ments and  triumphs  in  Europe,  especially  since  the  Reformation.    It  is  a 
production  of  great  ability,  evincing  extensive  research  and  careful  analysis 
of  historic  facts  and  their  causes." 

D.  APPLETON  &-  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  and  551  Broadway,  New  York. 


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